Reset Button
by spiffytgm
Summary: Trenton Police Officer Robin Russell has hit rock bottom. Can she redeem herself and find her own HEA in the process?
1. Chapter 1

**This is the other story I had planned to follow Carma. (I know I said three, but I changed my mind.) In that story, Robin Russell wasn't a very likable person, and I was harsh with her. The best part about hitting bottom though is the chance to hit the restart button, and maybe get it right this time. Think of the song Fallen by Sarah McLachlan. This one starts straight out with the angst, instead of my usual sarcastic wit and a burning car. Anyway, let me know which story you would like to see next, this one or "Burning Love". I blame Margaret, she put the idea in my head... ;-)**

**BTW, all the characters that strike you as familiar belong to Janet Evanovich. The mistakes are mine, though. I make nothing from this other than that warm fuzzy feeling I get from your reviews.**

I don't think my life can get much worse at this point. I have been the object of departmental scorn and ridicule ever since my affair with Detective Joseph Morelli became public knowledge. I can barely keep my head up while I'm doing patrols around a neighborhood where I once held it up with pride. I can't go out to any of the clubs where I used to hang out with friends. At least I thought they were friends. It's funny how none of them have called me since the day his ex-fiancee aired his dirty laundry on Hamilton Ave. I could blame all of my troubles on them, but I made my bed, and I have to take responsibility for my choices.

I decided on a rare day off to head out of town. I may as well be a leper at home. I haven't had a date in a month. The only men who will even bother to look in my direction are interested in an easy score. Most of them are married. I may have slept with Joe while he was engaged, but I've never slept with a married man.

I never got an official reprimand. There was no evidence of misconduct, just rumors. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop my fellow officers from looking down their noses at me. It doesn't stop them from filling my locker with whips and chains. It didn't stop my captain from telling me that he'll be watching me closely.

My name is Robin Russell. I am a patrol officer with the Trenton Police Department. I am 5'6", which is a little short for a police officer, but I make it work for me, and 120lbs of curves. I have straight blonde hair razor cut just below my ears and big brown eyes. None of that matters right now. Right now I'm an anonymous woman in an anonymous bar an hour away from home in Newark, NJ.

I sit at the bar sipping my Cosmo and listening to the steady beat of the music. Here none of the women give me nasty looks and pull their boyfriends closer. If a guy asks me to dance, it's just a dance. I have considered transferring out of Trenton, but I'm stronger than that. I'm not going to run with my tail between my legs. I need to start again, but I'm determined to do it in my hometown. Once you hit bottom, the only way to go is up, right?

I was watching the action on the dance floor. I really like to dance. I can let myself go while I'm dancing. I can feel someone sit next to me, but I don't turn. I feel my new neighbor lean into me and ask, "Buy you a drink?"

I turn to see if what kind of potential this guy has. If he looks like he can dance, I'll let him buy me a drink. I am instantly taught a lesson in life. When you're down, never ask yourself if it can get any worse. Fate sometimes has a wicked sense of humor.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

-lyrics-

Heaven bent to take my hand  
And lead me through the fire  
Be the long awaited answer  
To a long and painful fight

Truth be told I've tried my best  
But somewhere along the way  
I got caught up in all there was to offer  
And the cost was so much more than I could bear

Though I've tried, I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so...

We all begin with good intent  
Love was raw and young  
We believed that we could change ourselves  
The past could be undone  
But we carry on our backs the burden  
Time always reveals  
In the lonely light of morning  
In the wound that would not heal  
It's the bitter taste of losing everything  
That I've held so dear.

I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so...

Heaven bent to take my hand  
Nowhere left to turn  
I'm lost to those I thought were friends  
To everyone I know  
Oh they turn their heads embarrassed  
Pretend that they don't see  
But it's one missed step  
One slip before you know it  
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed

Though I've tried, I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so...


	2. I vaguely remember chapter one

**After some gentle prodding (ahem), I finally decided to sit down and see where this one went. Robin was not a likable person in Carma, but I don't think it was entirely her fault. It's possible that a certain man in black could be the one to help her when she needs it most. :-)**

**Anyway, all the cool kids sit at JE's table, I just get to do their homework for them... **

I was shocked when he turned beet red. A guy that big shouldn't blush like that at my sharp tongue. I really wish I could have taken my words back when he gave me an apologetic look and said, "Sorry Officer Russell, I didn't know it was you."

He turned as if to leave, and I felt even worse. This was perhaps the first time in a month that a man I know didn't sneer at me. I put my hand on his arm to stop him and couldn't help but notice his muscles tense. "Wait, please?" He turned back and I continued, "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I drove all the way out to Newark, and didn't expect to run into anyone from home."

His put his large hand over mine and smiled. "It's okay, Officer Russell. I had to drive Ranger to the airport at the end of my shift, so I was in the neighborhood. I won't bother you any longer." I looked him over and figured that he probably did just get off shift. He was still wearing black cargo pants, but had ditched the Rangeman shirt in favor of an Archaic Affliction t-shirt In blues and whites that was stretched to the limit over his chest and still managed to cling deliciously to his abs. By the way he towered over me he had to be at least 6'6", all of it hard muscle and ice blue eyes. His short black hair framed a face that could make angels weep.

His hand felt nice on mine, and I was reluctant to let go. "You can call me Robin. You're Hal, right?" He nodded. "Why don't you stay for a while?" He sat on the stool next to me and ordered a bottle of water. I was instantly suspicious again. "You came to a bar in Newark to drink water?"

He laughed. "No, I came to a bar in Newark to dance. Les recommended the place. I'm drinking water because I'm driving Ranger's Porsche."

We spent hours dancing and sharing drinks. The club was too crowded and noisy for conversation, but that was fine with me. What was not fine was the women who kept surrounding Hal on the dance floor and at the bar. At one point I was afraid that I was going to have to go to my car and get my baton to keep them back. I know I didn't have any exclusive right to him, but I was enjoying his company. Fortunately for me, he didn't seem to notice the other girls at all.

When we left the club, I had a new appreciation for Hal. For a guy with muscles on top of his muscles, he could really move. We danced for hours and he never made me feel like he was just trying to get it in. I realized that I had a great night, and I was reluctant to let it end.

I slowed as we got closer to the 911 Turbo that He was driving. When the locks chirped open, I looked up into his eyes. "Thank you for a great evening, Hal. I really appreciate it."

He smiled. "There's a diner up by the Turnpike entrance if you'd like to grab a bite."

He was so endearingly sweet that I felt nervous for the first time in a long time. I was enjoying his company, and I really didn't want to screw it up. "I'd like that, thank you."

I followed him to a small diner that was practically empty at this time of night. We were seated in a booth that allowed Hal to keep an eye on the car. Once we ordered, there was an awkward silence. Finally he asked me, "So, what were you doing up in Newark?"

I put the sugar packet I was playing with down and looked at him. "I just wanted to go somewhere that nobody knew who I was."

He blushed again. "I guess I messed that up for you, huh?"

"No," I was quick to reassure him. "I'm glad you showed up. I'm actually surprised that you stayed with me all night."

He looked confused. "Why would that surprise you?"

I snorted. "Come on Hal, every girl in the place wanted a piece of you. Why did you pick me?"

Once again he blushed. What was up with that, Was he really embarrassed by the attention? "I didn't know it was you when I offered you a drink, I mean what are the odds, but you were good company, and I enjoyed myself."

The waitress brought our food over, and I started picking at my eggs. "Thank you. I enjoyed myself, too."

We kept the conversation light over our meal. Hal kept me laughing with stories of some of the rowdier skips he's picked up, and I told him about some of the more outrageous arrests I've been in on. The funniest part was that we sometimes found ourselves talking about the same people. We were careful to keep people we both knew out of the conversation.

Once we were finished, Hal insisted on paying the check and walking me to my car. I thought for a moment that he was going to kiss me, but he only opened my door and helped me in. I think I was a little disappointed, but I didn't let it show. He followed me down the highway and flashed his high beams at me when I got off at my exit.

I'm glad that Hal was the one who drove Ranger to the airport. I don't think I could have handled it if I had run into Santos there tonight. I remembered Hal's blush, it really made him seem innocent, even though he has a body made for sin.

I pulled into my parking spot and practically floated to my door. I was still smiling to myself when I unlocked the door to my apartment. This was truly the best night I've had in a long time. I leaned over to turn on my light and nearly jumped a foot when I heard the voice behind me say, "Where have you been, Cupcake?"

**A/N So what do you think? Should I continue the story? Let me know what you think!**


	3. ups and downs

My heart lodged in my throat at the sound of his voice. I finished turning on the light then turned to find Joe sitting on my living room couch. Trying to act composed, I said, "You're lucky my gun is locked up right now."

He snorted and took a sip from the beer bottle on the table next to him. "You're looking pretty good, Robin." He set the bottle back on the table and stood. He walked over to me and ran his hand up and down my arm. I shivered, but not in a good way. He raised my hand and kissed my knuckles. "In fact, I'd say you look good enough to eat."

The eggs I had at the diner started to fight their way back up. I pulled my hand away from him and took a step back. "I'm not in the mood right now, Joe."

He took another step forward and pressed me against the door. The doorknob was digging into my side, and I was starting to get scared. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, "That's never stopped us before." He trailed his lips down my throat and squeezed my waist. "I bet I can get you in the mood."

The first signs of arousal sped through me and fought with the nausea. Joe always knows how to get my motor running, even when I really don't want him to. The feel of his soft lips on my throat contrasted exquisitely with his rough hands tight on my body. I needed to put a stop to this before things went any further.

I tried to shove his chest, but he didn't move. "Why now, Joe?" Now that I finally wanted him to leave me alone. "After everything that happened, why should we start this again?"

He pulled me away from the door and up against the hard lines of his body. I could feel his arousal through the denim of his jeans. He kneaded my ass and ground his hips into me. "Who said it ever ended? The boys miss you, Robin. Do you know how hard it was for me to wait for the storm to die down before I could have you again?" He took my hand and pressed it into his erection. "Can't you feel how hard it's been waiting for you?"

There was a battle raging inside my body. In my head, I was screaming at him to leave me alone, my heart was breaking because he thought he could just waltz back into my apartment and everything would be the same again, but my belly was warming up at the thought of the orgasm that I knew he could give me. In that instant, I wasn't sure which part would win.

Before I had to make a decision that at least one of us would regret, his phone rang. Cursing, he let go of my ass and answered, rubbing his cock up and down on my hand while he talked. With a sigh, he hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket. He bent down and took my earlobe between his teeth. When he bit down, I shivered again, only this time it was more sexual than I was comfortable with. Pressing against my hand a final time he said, "Sorry, but duty calls. I will be back though, Robin, so you may want to think about what kind of mood you're going to be in when I get here." With that, he turned and left.

I had just enough time to lock the deadbolt on my front door before I had to race to the bathroom. The breakfast I had eaten an hour ago burned as it all came back up. Once I was sure that my stomach was empty, I laid down on the cool tiles of my bathroom floor and cried.

I was still a mess the next morning when I woke, curled up on the bathroom floor. After I brushed my teeth and took a shower, I shuffled to my bedroom and tossed on a pair of shorts and a TPD t-shirt. I still had some time before I had to go to work, so I fixed myself a bowl of cereal. Sitting at my table, I went over the events of last night in my head. I had such a good time dancing with Hal, but I miss the sparks that fly when sex is in the air. Joe's got plenty of spark. He has so much, in fact, that he sets small fires all over Trenton, and if I let him back in, I'm going to get burned again. As far as I could see, distance was the key to keeping Joe out of my life. Every time he gets close to me, all my good intentions go straight down the drain.

I got to the TPD with minutes to spare before the start of my shift. I had gotten out of my car and turned towards the door when Joe sauntered over. He tugged a lock of my hair and said, "Good morning, cupcake, sorry our date got cut short last night."

I shook my head, "Is that what you call last night, a date? I call it breaking and entering."

Joe smirked. "Call it whatever you want to, cupcake, I know you wanted it." Before I could deny it, he continued, "Why don't you come over my place tonight, and we'll watch the game?" He wiggled his eyebrows, as if I couldn't figure out that he was talking about sex.

I was almost too glad to turn him down. "Sorry, Joe, I have plans for this evening. My mother expects me for dinner." She didn't, but she would welcome me at the table nonetheless.

He shrugged. "Your loss. I'm sure I can find someone else to spend the evening with." With that, he turned and walked away. As I started towards the station, I noticed Eddie Gazarra standing there shaking his head. I blushed as I realized that he saw the entire exchange.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of handing out speeding tickets and rousting drunks. Keeping the streets of Trenton safe used to be a lot more fun than it has been lately. At six o'clock on the dot, I was sitting at my mother's dining room table, eating pork chops and green beans and listening to her bemoan my current lack of a love life. "Honestly, Robin, you're never going to find a man sitting at home with your mother."

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, I found a man, and look where that got me."

My mother tsk'ed. "Those Morelli boys are nothing but trouble, if you ask me. You should never have dated him in the first place."

I was momentarily stunned. "Mom, everyone in the neighborhood thinks that Joe's the Morelli boy who made good."

My mother snorted. "He's better at hiding what he is, that's all. I hear that Bernie Kuntz is still single."

I almost gagged. "Bernie Kuntz?"

"Why not? He has a good job selling appliances, He still visits his grandmother every week at the nursing home, and he'll never cheat on you."

I sighed. "Mom, I'm sure he's a really nice guy, but he's not the one for me."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one thing, I'm taller than he is."

my mother waived that off. "What difference does that make?"

I tried again. "I'd never be able to wear heels again. For another thing, he doesn't make my heart beat any faster."

she shook her head. "And just look at where that got you last time. Dating a man that gets your heart racing is just asking for trouble."

I really couldn't argue with her on that point, but there was no way in hell I was going on a date with Bernie Kuntz. I held up my hands in surrender and said, "I'll thing about it, okay?"

By the time I made my way back to my apartment, I was bone tired and ready to go to sleep. I trudged up the stairs and stopped short. Sitting outside my apartment door was a small vase filled with different colored daisies. My first thought was that they were from Joe, but I shook that off. In all the years that we had been seeing each other, he never once got me flowers, and I doubt he'd start now. My second thought was that my mother had called Bernie, and they were from him. I realized that I had two choices, I could stand here all day and guess, or I could take them into my apartment and read the stupid card. Deciding that the second option was really the only one that made sense, I picked up the flowers and walked inside.

Once I put them on my kitchen counter, I opened the card. In small, neat script were the words, "Thank you for the dance." I closed my eyes and felt my heart speed up, just a little bit.


	4. Phoning a friend

I stood at my kitchen sink, nearly paralyzed. This was the first time in years someone has sent me flowers that I haven't slept with. I was plagued with indecision. Did he just send them as a friendly gesture? Was he interested in seeing me? Was he only interested in sleeping with me? Was I going to stand here all night like a schoolgirl with her first crush? I knew I should call and thank him, but I didn't even have his phone number. Should I call his work? Would he even be at work this late? I thunked my head against the counter. I was going to give myself an aneurysm overthinking this. It's not like we've even gone out on a date, we just happened to run into each other in a club.

I picked up my cell phone and stood there, looking at it. After a monent, I placed it back on the counter. I picked the phone up and put it back down at least a half a dozen times. For some reason, I was almost afraid to call, it seemed as if my self esteem hung in the balance. I finally decided that I had waited too long. It was probably too late to call over there, anyway. I could just wait until tomorrow.

I looked over at the clock and realized that it was only seven thirty. So much for it being too late. Screwing up my courage, I picked up the phone once again and called before I could chicken out. The phone rang once before I hung up. What was I doing? He probably wasn't even there. Still, it would be rude not to thank him. I knew I would drive myself crazy if I didn't get this over with, so I picked up the phone and called again. I was about to hang up after the second ring when it was answered. "Robin?"

I stood there with my mouth hung open, unable to speak. How did they know it was me on the phone? Does that mean they know I just called and hung up? I was on the verge of hanging up for the second time when he spoke again, "Are you all right, Robin?"

I realized that there was probably only one person there who would call me by my name. "Hal?"

"Were you hoping for somebody else?" It might have been my imagination, but I could swear I head him smile through the line.

I sat at my kitchen table. "You just threw me when you said my name."

This time he did chuckle. The low, masculine sound felt like a whisper across my skin. "You're calling a private security company, and you're surprised when we know who it is?"

Now it was my turn to laugh. "Well, when you say it like that..." I left the rest of that sentance unsaid, since I already felt like a dork without adding to it. "I just wanted to thank you for the flowers. They were unexpected, but I appreciate them. Honestly, I'm surprised I caught you, I wasn't sure when you'd be working again." There, that sounded reasonable.

"No problem. I kind of monopolized your time last night."

I smiled. "And I appreciate that, too." He chuckled again. I was really starting to like the sound of his laugh. "Anyway, I'll let you get back to work. I'm sure you're busy."

"I'm on monitor duty from three to eleven for the rest of the week and Cal's on his dinner break, you can monopolize as much time as you want."

"How come you have monitor duty?" It seemed like a waste to have him sitting at a desk all night.

"Just our turn. We rotate monitor duty unless someone irritates Ranger. Handing out monitor duty is one of Ranger's favorite punishments. Believe me, it's effective. Although monitor duty is still better than front desk duty. There is absolutely nothing to do when you're sitting at the front desk except let your ass go numb while you hope that no one actually shows up."

I was enjoying the conversation. "Which one of you guys is Cal? Is he your partner?"

"Yeah, he's my partner, and he's the one with the tattoo." He didn't need to say anything else. There is only one guy at Rangeman who has a flaming skull tattooed on his forehead. If I recalled correctly, he was almost as tall and well built as Hal, but didn't have the muscles on top of muscles look that worked so well on Hal.

We spent the next half hour talking about nothing in particular. I was a little disappointed when he told me that Cal was on his way back and he had to go. Before he hung up, I kind of blurted out, "Next time you want to go dancing, give me a call."

There was a brief hesitation before he said, "Sure thing. You have a good night, Robin." He hung up the phone before I had a chance to wonder about it. I decided that the best thing to do was to think that he was surprised by the invitation. Whether he called or not was another story altogether.

Hal hung up the phone an looked up at the ceiling. He knew that he had maybe a minute before Cal got back to the control room, and he really didn't want his partner to see the blush that he knew was probably spread across his face. Out of all his quirks, this was the one that irritated him the most. The guys could usually be counted on to give him a load of grief for it. Cal wasn't as bad as Lester, but his Cajun drawl just made it seem weirder.

Hal had no idea why he couldn't control himself. He'd seen and done things that would probably make Satan cringe, but throw a girl into the mix and he'd blush like a teenager at a strip club. Stil, thinking about his condition wasn't helping matters, so he took a few deep breaths and tried to blank his mind.

Sure enough, Cal called him out as soon as he was in sight. "Ain't no monitors on the ceiling, you looking the wrong way." Hal's head snapped down and turned straight to the monitors, but not before Cal saw. "Why you lookin' like dat? Did old man Hegarty forget to turn off the cameras before he brought his latest side piece to the store for a little after hours fun?" Hal shook his head, but Cal kept watching him. "Ranger's out of town, so I know you didn't catch him and Bomber in the elevator again."

Hal was tempted to roll his eyes. "Look, it's nothing, seriously."

Cal sat down and said, "Now, why don't I believe you? I know, it must be because the only time you blush like that, there's a woman involved." Hal closed his eyes and Cal broke out in a wide grin. "There is a woman involved, isn't there? Tell me everything, I want all the details. Cathy is gonna want to know all about it too. She wanted to set you up with a nice girl she knows."

If there was one thing Hal wanted less than for everyone to know his business, it was to be set up on another blind date. "Can we just keep this between us for now?"

Cal shrugged. "Don't see why not. As long as you tell me everything."

Hal looked over at his parnter and friend. He debated whether or not he wanted to let Cal know what was going on in his head. The men at Rangeman could gossip worse than the old ladies in the Burg Grapevine sometimes, but he was pretty sure that Cal would keep this to himself. He blew out a breath and started to talk, "You know I took Ranger to the airport, right?"

Cal nodded. "I still think you rigged the coin toss so that you could get out of the last hour of monitor duty."

Hal smiled at the old joke. "It was my turn. Anyway, after I left the airport, I decided to take Les' advice and go to a club."

"You followed Les' advice? You should know better than that."

Hal fought not to roll his eyes. "Are you going to let me finish this or not?" At Cal's nod, he continued, "I went to a club that was close to the airport. I figured it was a nice, anonymous place where I could ask a girl to dance. It was kind of nice not worrying about whether or not someone I knew was going to show up and embarrass the hell out of me." He gave Cal a pointed look, but Cal shrugged it off. The guys at Rangeman were a family, and who besides family knew just what buttons to push. "I sort of ran into someone I knew there. We wound up dancing and talking for the rest of the night. We even went to the diner afterwards for a quick meal. I didnt expect to enjoy myself as much as I did, so I sent her flowers today."

Cal held up a hand. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me you slept with her last night?"

Hal blushed scarlet. "No."

Cal's eyebrows leapt up towards his tattoo in surprise. "You mean you didn't sleep with a woman that you ran into last night, and you still sent her flowers? You laying the foundation for the next time you see her?"

Hal's blush burned brighter. "It's not like that. She's been going through a rough patch lately, and I wanted to do something nice for her. She called the switchboard while you were at dinner, because that's the only number she knew. We spent most of your break talking. Right before we hung up, she told me to call her if I wanted to go dancing again. That's why I was blushing when you walked in, nothing more."

"So are you gonna call her?"

Hal ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know."

Cal grinned and leaned back in his chair. "Don't know, or don't want to tell me?"

"Is there a difference?"

"You let Uncle Cal give you some advice. Take some time to think about what you want, but don't take too long. If you think there could be something there, then go for it. Lache Pas La Patate."

"Don't drop the potato?"

Cal wiggled his eyebrows. "It sounds much better in french. It also means something like, 'hang in there'."

Hal smiled and turned back to the monitors. "You know, I used to think that I was the strangest guy here, then you came aboard."

Cal threw back his head and laughed. "Not by a long shot, my friend."


	5. A friendly chat

**"Are you going to tell me what went on today, Babe?" Ranger finally asked. I'm Kidding, LilyGhost, But I am deeply troubled by the author (and I use that term loosely) who wasn't. I haven't really taken the time lately to write a chapter intro, but I felt the need to say PLAGIARISM IS NOT COOL.**

**For the first time in a long time, I'm several chapters ahead of what I've posted. I know that some of you are tired of the way Morelli doesn't seem to change at all, or may even seem to be moving backwards, but in the timeline that lives in my head, this story happens after Carma and midway through Burning Love, but before Undercover Cupcake. Who knows, by the time I'm finished maybe he'll even learn to loosen up a little. (I wouldn't bet heavily on that though)**

**Anyway, since I'm here, The characters belong to JE, I don't make anything, yada yada yada... (but I do love hearing what you think!)**

I woke up the next morning feeling better than I had in a while. I spent my breakfast smiling at the flowers that Hal sent. Even if he never calls again, I'll be grateful for the gift. I took a leisurely shower and spent a little extra time on my hair and makeup. That is to say I actually put makeup on and blow dried my hair. I normally don't bother, which is very un-Jersey girl of me, but by the end of shift, the makeup has usually sweated off and I have a serious case of hat hair.

My first call of the day was for a breaking and entering. The homeowners had been out of town, and came back to find their house trashed and their electronics and jewelry stolen. I took the report and did my best to reassure the owners, but the sad fact is that less than fifteen percent of burglars ever get caught. After we finished, I gave them their case number so that they could get the police report for their insurance.

At lunch time, I decided to go to Pino's and pick up a meatball sub. I was walking towards the front door when Eddie Gazarra pulled his own cruiser alongside mine. He got out and called out a greeting, "Hey, Russell."

I stopped and looked at him. "Hey, Eddie, what's up?"

He held the door open for me. "Just grabbing lunch, you want to join me?"

I would suspect that he was up to something, but the fact is everyone and their cousin knows that Eddie is solidly in love with his wife. It was a shock when he and Shirley the whiner got engaged, but they've been married for years, and they're still goofy in love. It's actually pretty nice to see a couple stay together like they do. Of course, on the flip side of that coin is the fact that once we're seen together, everyone will assume we're doing more than just eating. "Sorry, Eddie, I was just going to get it to go and eat over at the park."

Eddie stopped me before I could walk over to the takeout counter. "Nonsense. Have a seat, it's only lunch." Since he didn't seem to have the grace to take no for an answer, I sat at the table and he sat across from me. Once the waitress took our orders, he cut to the chase. "So, the makeup thing is a new look for you, Robin. You should know that getting all dolled up for Morelli is a waste of time."

I rolled my eyes. "Thinking about Morelli is a waste of time, that's why I stopped doing that."

He didn't look convinced. "You two looked mighty cozy in the parking lot yesterday. Last time that happened, you took a hard rap. I thought you were smarter than falling for the same thing twice."

I blew out a frustrated breath. "Eddie, no matter what yesterday looked like, there is nothing going on between us. I learned my lesson the hard way, and I am not interested in a repeat performance. The sad fact is that no one will believe me no matter what I do, so I don't even bother trying to correct anyone."

"Does Joe know that you two aren't an item anymore?"

"I thought he did. After the Hamilton Ave blowup, I didn't see or speak to him in anything other than an official capacity for a long time. I holed up and didn't talk to anyone. It's only been recently that I've started going out on my own, and even then I have to go where nobody knows my past. I was beginning to feeling better about myself Eddie, I really was. Then two nights ago he shows up at my place and wants to just pick up where we left off, like I'm going to just tear off my clothes and jump into bed with him. Knocked me for a loop and messed with my head. I really don't need that, Eddie. I need to get back on track." By the time I was finished unloading, I was blinking back tears. I didn't realize how much I needed to be able to tell someone that.

Eddie looked sympathetic, if a little uneasy with the level of information I had given him. "Damn, Robin, I didn't mean what I said."

I hiccuped out a laugh. "Eddie, you've been nicer to me than anyone other than my mother. If you'll excuse me for a minute, I think I need to go freshen up." I went to the ladies room and splashed some cold water on my face. Once I had my emotions under control and my now smeared makeup washed off, I went back to the table.

The waitress had delivered our food, and Eddie was eating with his usual gusto. When I picked up my sub, he wiped some sauce off his mouth and said, "If you want, I'll have a word with Joe. Probably won't do much good, but you never know."

I had to fight the urge to cry again. "Thanks, but no thanks, Eddie. I have to handle this on my own. I just want you to know that's the best offer I've had all day."

He shrugged. "Anytime. If you need to talk to someone, you can always give me or Shirley a call. "

We finished lunch while talking shop. It was such a nice change of pace to have lunch with a coworker instead of alone in my cruiser. When the check came, I insisted on paying. It was the least I could do for him.

Towards the end of shift, I got called to another B&amp;E. Trenton sees its fair share of burglaries, but this one looked pretty much the same as the one I handled at the beginning of my shift. After I finished the call I made a note to inform my shift commander of the similarities, and headed back to the station to write up my reports.

The rest of my week went pretty much the same. There were two other reported break-ins, but I wasn't assigned to them. On Friday, I went home after shift and took off my ugly cop shoes with a sigh of relief. I don't normally get the full weekend off, but since I did I was planning to sleep for at least twelve hours straight two nights in a row. I was in the kitchen, staring at the freezer, hoping one of my frozen dinners would magically turn into something good when the phone rang. My pulse sped up a little bit when I read the caller ID. There was only one person at Rangeman who would be calling me on a Friday night. With a smile I hit the talk button and said, "Hal."

I was greeted with a chuckle that warmed me to my toes. "I see you've got caller ID too."

I laughed. "Can't slide one past you security guys. You still on monitor duty?"

"Yeah. Cal just went off for his dinner break and I thought I'd give you a call."

"How many more days until you're off monitors?"

"Today's the last day, then we get three glorious days off." There was a beep on his end and he said, "Hang on a second." I heard the thump of a receiver being set down and Hal's voice in the background saying, "Base, unit one."

He must have been talking to someone on their radio, because he was answered with, "Unit one, base."

Hal answered them with, "10-33 2281 Brunswick Ave, code 2." Since I am a police officer and they were using police codes, I knew he was telling them to respond to an alarm.

They responded with, "2281 Brunswick, Roger."

Hal picked up the phone again. "Sorry about that."

I smiled to myself. "No problem. Business or residential?"

"Residential."

"Tell them to check the back door. We've been getting a bunch of calls in that area lately. Back door seems to be the usual point of entry."

He put the phone down again so that he could relay the information. He picked the phone back up and said, "Thanks for the tip."

I mentally tipped my hat and said, "That's the TPD, we aim to please."

Once he stopped laughing, he asked, "So what does your schedule look like for the rest of the week?"

I leaned back against my counter in a relaxed pose, not that he could see me at all, and said, "It just so happens that I am already off shift, and will remain off until Monday."

He paused for a minute. I was starting to get nervous when he finally said, "There's a new club opening up just across the bridge in Philly. I thought that if you were interested, we could grab some dinner tomorrow and check it out."

I don't know what it is about Hal, but I felt like jumping up and down and squealing like a girl. Even though he looks like he's built for sin, he just sounds so innocent when you talk to him. This sounded like an honest to goodness date, the likes of which I haven't experienced in years. Instead of making a fool of myself, I answered, "I'd like that, thank you." We spent a couple more minutes firming up the plans before he had to hang up and go back to work.

I have a date with Hal. I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it. Even though my date wasn't until tomorrow, I wanted to check out the state of my closet. I needed to pick out a dress that I could dance in, but wouldn't be too slutty.

An hour later, I was sitting on the floor of my closet, looking at the clothes strewn from one end of my bedroom to the other. Why did I think this was going to be easy? Most of the clothes I would wear to go clubbing, I wouldn't wear for a dinner date. On the other hand, I was wearing club clothes when we got together that first night. Aargh! I was going to drive myself crazy if I kept second guessing myself.

I decided that since I was off work tomorrow, I'd treat myself to a trip to the Quakerbridge Mall for a new dress. Maybe I'd even get a manicure and pedicure while I was at it. That way, I could knock Hal's socks off when he picked me up tomorrow night. Making a firm decision, I marched over to my bed and picked up the clothes that lay there. I hung everything back up where it belonged. Once that was done, I made a phone call. "Hello, Shirley? This is Robin Russell. Eddie told me to call you if I needed anything. Are you free to do a little shopping tomorrow morning?"


	6. a little girl time goes a long way

Shirley the Whiner bounced out of her house with a spring in her step and a song in her heart. It wasn't necessarily because she was going shopping with Robin Russell, it was more the thought that she would be able to spend a few glorious hours doing female things in the company of another female without lugging her kids along with her. Shirley had grown up with Robin, but they never really hung out in the same circles. They occasionally saw each other at TPD picnics, but even then, Shirley usually hung out with the other wives. When Eddie had told her that Robin was having some problems, and that friends were in short supply, she felt bad for her, but she was still surprised when Robin called her a few days later.

She hopped into Robins car and said, "Hey, Robin, you ready to shop?"

Robin smiled, but she looked a little uncomfortable. "Hey, Shirley. I'm glad you could come out today. Sorry about taking you away from Eddie."

Shirley grinned. "We're not joined at the hip." If her voice sounded a little whiny, she didn't notice and Robin didn't cringe so it was all good. "Besides, I'll take any excuse I can to get away from the kids for a few hours.

Robin put the car in gear and drove them to the Quakerbridge Mall. On the way there, Shirley started laying out a plan of action. They would begin at Macy's. If they couldn't find what they wanted there, they could go across to Lord &amp; Taylor's. After that they would hit Mr. Alexander's for manicures and pedicures, then stop at Victoria's secret before grabbing a late lunch at the food court.

Robin looked a little out of sorts. "A late lunch? Shirley, it's only ten o'clock. How long do you think this is going to take?"

"The way I see it, it will take at least an hour to try on dresses and shoes, and more likely two. Then you spend an hour and a half at Mr. Alexander's and twenty minutes at Victoria's Secret. That gets us lunch at about two o'clock, by which time I'll be starving, and home by three. That's plenty of time before Eddie has to go to work, so it'll be perfect. Trust me, Robin, I come from a long line of women who shop, so I know what I'm talking about." Robin smiled and looked like she was getting into the spirit.

Before she knew it, they were parked in front of Macy's. It wa early enough that they were able to get a good spot, in another hour the lot would be mostly full. As they walked towards the door, Shirley said, "Now, I don't want you to think I'm prying, but I don't know what we're shopping for. All you told me was that you needed a new outfit."

Robin looked a little sheepish. "Well, I have a date."

Shirley stopped walking and clutched her arm. "A date? Anyone I know?"

Robin paled, thinking that Shirley might think she was shopping for Joe. "I don't know if you've ever met him, but I don't believe you have. He works with Stephanie."

Relieved, Shirley started walking again. "Good. Any of the guys we grew up with that are still single aren't worth your time." Both women knew who she was talking about, but neither mentioned him by name. She wiggled her eyebrows and whispered, "Besides, the guys that Steph works with are hot." Robin laughed when Shirley pretended to fan herself. "So, where are you going?"

Robin held the door open for Shirley. "We're going to dinner then a new club in Philly. I have club wear, and I have dinner wear, but I don't have any decent outfits that I could wear to both."

Shirley started leading them to the Women's section. "Don't worry. By the time we're done, you're gonna knock his socks off."

The ladies talked and laughed as Shirley selected and rejected several outfits for Robin to try on. By the time they left Macy's Robin had to admit that although Shirley may have her faults, the woman had an excellent sense of style. The dress she bought was perfect. It was a black dress that fit her snugly without being too tight. It had pastel colored ribbons that crisscrossed as they wound around her body, accentuating her curves without making her look chubby. It was more open in the back than the front, but still didn't open all the way to her butt. Shirley also found a pair of black heels with pink straps curving around them, and a matching pink clutch purse with black straps. When she put the outfit on, Robin felt sexy without being skanky. As they walked to Mr. Alexander's, Robin told her, "I want to thank you, Shirley. I don't know if I even would have looked at this dress if I was here by myself."

Shirley waived her compliment off. "It was nothing. I love dress shopping, but I don't have many occasions to wear a dress like that one. After three kids, I don't have the body to wear it either." They slipped into an easy Burg gossip while they were having their mani-pedi's. When they got to Victoria's Secret, Shirley suggested blue or purple to match the stripes and gave her a coupon she had gotten in the mail. After they were finished there, they went to the food court. Sitting at one of the small tables, Shirley said, "You know, I wasn't exactly prepared to like you."

Robin was surprised by Shirley's bluntness. "Um, Okay?"

Shirley laughed. "I wasn't prepared for it, but I really do like you. I love shopping, and there are times when I would pop out one of my own kidneys just to get a few hours away from the kids, so I was going to come with you anyway, but you're nice and you're funny, and I had a really great time today."

"Thanks, I did too."

"When Eddie came home the day you two had lunch, I had already gotten calls from several of the Burg housewives. They tried to warn me that you were after my man." Robin winced and took another bite of her burbon chicken so that she didn't have to say anything. Shirley continued, "Anyway, when Eddie came home I asked him how his day was. He gave me the typical 'Same as usual', but then he told me right away that the two of you had lunch. He said that you talked about Morelli, and that you were feeling a little blue. That was when I realized that maybe I was letting the gossip color my opinion of you, and I'm sorry about it."

Robin shook her head. "It's no problem. I'm glad you were honest with me, and I kinda like you, too."

Shirley laughed. "Now that that's out of the way, tell me about this guy."

Robin thought about it. "The first thing you think when you see him is 'This guy is HUGE.'" She laughed at Shirley's expression. "Not like that. I mean he's tall and he's got muscles on top of his muscles. I guess you could say that he's built like a T. Rex, But he's smart and he's funny and he can really dance. He's got black hair and the most amazing blue eyes I've ever seen. He's hot enough to melt steel, but he blushes without the least provocation, and he seems so shy it's kind of sweet. We bumped into each other in a nightclub in Newark, but he lives and works here in Trenton. We spent that night dancing at the club, then went to the diner for breakfast. The next day he sent me flowers."

Shirley was resting her chin in her hand, soaking up what Robin was telling her. She sighed and said, "So why haven't you snapped him up before now?"

"Because I didn't really know him, just enough to nod at him whenever he came in to the TPD. Y ou know how you can see someone without actually seeing them?" At Shirley's nod, she went on, "That's kind of how it was. Plus, I was kind of hung up on Morelli, and I believed his crap about the Rangeman guys being thugs and criminals."

Shirley snorted in disgust. "Half the women in Trenton were hung up on him at one time or another, my cousin included. He's not as nice a guy as people believe he is."

Robin nodded. "You don't have to tell me twice. So anyway, we talked on the phone a couple of times, he asked me out, I had a panic attack in my closet, called you, and here we are."

Shirley stood and gathered their trash. As they walked towards Robin's car she said, "Okay, you have my permission to date him."

Robin rolled her eyes and said, "Thanks, mom." When they got back to Shirley's house Robin tod her, "Thank you, I had a great time. I don't want to ruin it or anything, but please could you keep what we talked about to yourself?" Before Shirley could say anything, Robin held up a hand and said, "I don't mean you can't tell Eddie, I just want to have one date with a nice guy before everyone and their sister knows where I was and who I was with."

Shirley smiled. "Don't worry, Robin, I know what you mean." She opened her door and got out. Before she closed the door, she leaned back in and said, "Now, go home and get yourself dolled up. We will be having lunch sometime this week so that you can tell me how it went. And, if you see anyone from the Burg while you're on your date, give them the finger for me."

Robin laughed and saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

Robin took a short nap and spent the rest of the day getting ready for her date. She took a leisurely bath, then buffed, scrubbed, plucked, and polished until she was ready. She blow dried her hair so that it bounced and shone. She put on three coats of mascara for confidence. By the time she was dressed and standing in front of her mirror, she was so nervous that she thought she'd be sick.

There was a soft knock on her door at exactly eight o'clock. Robin walked slowly to her door, took a deep breath for courage, and smoothed some imaginary wrinkles from her skirt. Plastering a smile on her face that she hoped didn't look demented, she opened it up.

Robin was rooted to the spot by the sight of Hal. He looked gorgeous standing in her doorframe. He was wearing a blue linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up over his forearms and grey slacks, and he was holding a boquet of Iris and Sunflowers. Robin wasn't sure how long she just stood there and stared at him. Her only saving grace was the fact that he just stood there staring at her, too. She shook herself out of her stupor when she saw the blush start to spread up his neck and around his cheeks. She had to clear her throat before she could say, "Hi."

When she spoke, she must have snapped Hal's attention back, because he smiled, held up the flowers and said, "Hi. I brought these for you." She took the flowers from him and sniffed them appreciatively before inviting him inside. He looked at his watch and said, "We have an eight thirty reservation, so we should probably leave."

Robin loved the fact that he barely seemed capable of stringing complete sentences together. She put the flowers in water and grabbed her purse. Since it was a warm evening, she didn't bother getting a sweater. When Hal put his hand on the small of her back to guide her towards his car, she could have purred in satisfaction.


	7. Date Night

Robin was used to seeing the large black SUV's that the Rangeman guys drove, and assumed that was what Hal drove. She had her second surprise of the night when he led her to a dark blue antique pickup truck. When he opened the door, she could see that it had been restored both inside and out. She settled herself into the white leather seat as he walked around the front of the truck. When he climbed in she said, "This is a beatuiful truck, Hal. What is it?"

He turned the key in the ignition and the truck gave a throaty rumble. "There's an old saying about a bear in his natural habitat." He grinned at Robin's confused look and clarified, "It's a Studebaker." She still didn't look like she understood, so he told her, "It's from The Muppet Movie."

Robin laughed. After spending the afternoon with butterflies in her stomach, she was surprised that such a simple thing could put her at ease. To show him that she got the joke she said, "I didn't know that Studebaker made trucks. I thought that was a myth." She watched him smile in the darkness. He had a really nice smile. As he drove to the restaurant she decided to stick to a safe topic. She asked him, "So, what's it like, working at Rangeman?"

He shrugged, but kept his eyes on the road. "I like it. Ranger and Tank run a tight ship, but it works. The fact that most of us are former military means that we understand each other and work well as a team."

Robin had figured Hal for ex-military, but she never spoke to him long enough to try to figure out what branch. She prodded him to continue. "You were in the military?"

"Yes, ma'am. Marine Special Operations Regiment. Met Ranger during a combined forces action. We worked well together during that mission, as well as a couple of other times our units were in the same place at the same time. A few months after I separated, Ranger called and asked if I was interested in working private security. It seemed like a good idea, so here I am." There was a brief pause before he said, "And here we are."

Robin was so busy listening to him that she hadn't noticed that they were stopped in a parking lot close to what looked like a cafe, complete with tables along the sidewalk. She figured that the only thing missing was the accordion music and the Eiffel Tower in the background before you would believe you were in Paris. Quite a neat trick for downtown Philly. Hal got out of the truck and around to her side before she could open her door. He led her to the restaurant where the Mairte d' seated them at one of the sidewalk tables.

After they ordered, Robin said, "So, do you always pick up strange women in clubs?"

Hal was glad it was dark enough that she probably couldn't see his blush. "Actually, that was the first time I tried." Robin snorted in disbelief. "No, seriously. I usually go out with some of the guys from Rangeman. Once Santos hits the dance floor, the women usually pile up around the table." He sucked in a breath. In a panicked voice he said, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that there were plenty of people to dance with."

Robin laid her hand on his. "It's okay, Hal, I was just kidding." She was reluctant to let it go.

After the waitress brought their meals, Hal blew out a breath. "I'm not very good at this."

Robin smiled as she dug into her chicken. "I think you're doing just fine."

Cutting into his steak, Hal said, "Tell me about you. What made you decide to become a police officer?"

Robin Shrugged. "My mom wanted me to be a lawyer when I grew up, but there was no way I could go through that much college. I got into Rutgers by the seat of my pants and wasn't exactly the best and the brightest." She rolled her eyes at the understatement. "I was taking a pre-law class in criminology, and it really fascinated me. When I came home on a semester break, I did a ride-along with the TPD and realized that I'd rather help poeple before they needed a lawyer. Of course it's not really that simple, but I like my job and can't imagine doing anything else." They chatted through the rest of dinner, neither one revealing too much personal information.

After dinner they shared a crème brûlée. Hal paid the check and suggested that they leave the truck where it was parked. The club was only a couple of blocks away, so Robin agreed. There was a line halfway around the block of people waiting to get in, but Hal said something to the bouncer at the door and he waived them through. When Robin gave him a surprised look he told her, "Rangeman provides after hours security here. I told him I was a Rangeman employee and he bumped us through." He was shouting by the time he finished his sentence, because the volume of the music overwhelmed anything else.

Since there was no way they could hold a conversation, Robin led him straight to the dance floor. They spent the next couple of hours dancing with the occasional stop for a drink. They moved well together, and Robin couldn't help but preen a little under the weight of the jealous stares that some of the other women were giving her. She gave each one a mental 'back off, bitches', and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She didn't even notice that she was attracting her fair share of male attention, or that each time one got too close for Hal's comfort, he would slide a proprietary hand around her waist. By closing time, Robin was exhausted. Hal offered to go get the truck and pick her up, but Robin figured that he was probably just as tired as he was.

Robin spent the short drive back to Trenton watching the streetlights pass. This was her favorite time of night because it was mostly quiet. When they got back to her apartment, Hal walked her to her door. When they got there, she turned to him and said, "I had a really great time tonight, Hal." Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him.

Their first kiss was soft and sweet. Robin reveled in the feel of his lips on hers. Their second kiss heated up when he put his hands on her hips and really got into it. Robin kept one hand on his arm for balance, but wound the other through his still sweat dampened hair. She could feel the heat pouring off of him, even though there were still a couple of inches separating them. When they pulled apart, they were both breathing heavily and Robin felt slightly dizzy. Gathering her courage she asked, "Would you like to come inside?"

Hal tightened his grip on her waist and closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he opened them and said, "I want to, Robin, I really do, but that's probably why I shouldn't." She tried to cover the hurt in her eyes, but he saw it nonetheless. He kissed her again gently before he said, "I'd like to see you again, Robin. Can I call you?"

She slid her hand down from where she was playing with the hair on the back of his neck until it rested on his broad chest. She nodded and said, "Yes, I'd like that."

He kissed her again. She was almost at the point of jumping him right there in the hallway when he forced himself to pull back. Pulling at a lock of hair near her ear he told her, "Go on inside, Robin. I'll call you later."

Robin managed to unlock her door and slip inside. Remembering what happened the last time she was with Hal, she looked around. He apartment was blessedly as empty as it was when she left. Seeing the flowers he had given her on her kitchen counter, she leaned against the door and smiled.

Hal woke up early the next morning to the sound of someone pounding on his door. Hal threw on some sweatpants and stormed to the door, prepared to beat the snot out of whoever decided to wake him up on his day off. He yanked the door open but had to change gears quickly at the sight of the italian woman standing there smiling at him. Instead of saying good morning he said, "Let me see your hands."

Baffled, she held her hands out for his inspection. "Why?"

He smirked and said, "If that was you pounding on my door you had to hit it hard enough to break one of your hands. Since they're both intact I'm going to assume that this wasn't your idea."

She snorted out a laugh as her boyfriend stepped over from where he was hiding down the hall. she shrugged and said, "Busted," then pressed a kiss to Hal's cheek. "Now that my work is done, I'm going down to the gym. Why don't you come join us when you're done talking." With that, she turned and walked to the stairs.

Hal scowled at Cal and walked to the kitchen, leaving the door open behind him. As he started his coffee brewing, Cal followed him in. Making himself comfortable he asked, "So, how was your date last night?"

Hal got out a couple of coffee mugs and set them on the counter. He mumbled, "I don't know what you're talking about," but he knew that Cal wouldn't believe him.

"C'mon, we been partners how long? Soon as you told me about her I knew you were gonna call her."

Hal handed him a mug of coffee. "Then why did you bother asking?"

Cal grinned and took a sip. "Because I want to know how it went, I wanted to see if you made it home last night, and I wanted to know who the girl was."

"Gee, mom, I didn't know you cared."

Cal grinned. "That's Uncle Cal to you. Mom just went downstairs to the gym. Now spill."

Hal drained his coffee and poured himself another cup. "It was good. We went to dinner and a club in Philly."

Cal picked his cup back up and helped himself to more coffee. "Don't make me hurt you, Hal."

Hal blew out a breath. "I drove her home and walked her to her door. I asked her if I could see her again and we kissed good night. Since it was already about two thirty in the morning, I came home and went to bed. You happy now?"

Cal raised an eyebrow. "No funny stuff?"

Hal rolled his eyes. "I left my clown nose at home."

Cal laughed. "All right, all right. Are you going to tell me who she is?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

Cal was surprised. He and Hal seldom kept secrets from each other. "Why not?"

Hal ran his hand through his hair. "Because we only went out on one date. We're not picking out china patterns, and I can guarantee you that she's not carrying my child. Look, I know you're not just asking to be nosy. I just want to give it a chance to develop."

Cal brought his coffee cup over to the sink and rinsed it out. "All right. I'm still going to give you a hard time about it though."

"Can I go back to bed now?"

The guys did one of those complicated handshakes. "Go to sleep. I got your back."


	8. Chambersburg or Stepford?

Robin slept in on Sunday, and woke in a teriffic mood. She fixed herself some coffee and cereal for breakfast and ate at the breakfast bar, smiling at her flowers. Her mom called her as she usually did after church, and she found herself enjoying the conversation more than she had in a while.

She promised to join her mother for dinner after her shift on Monday and ended the conversation. Before she could set the phone down, it rang again. She looked at the caller ID and was a little surprized to see Gazarra scroll across her screen. She answered, "Hello?"

Shirley cut to the chase. "So, did you knock his socks off?"

Robin laughed. "Good morning, Shirley. How nice of you to call. I'm doing fine, thank you."

Shirley snorted. "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Good Morning, blah blah. I'm dying here. I waited until we got home from services to call. Let me tell you, I haven't fidget that much in Church since I lost my virginity to Big Dog behind the bleachers at the homecoming game Sophomore year of high school. I was sure Father Matt knew exactly what I did and would tell the entire congregation."

Robin laughed even harder at the image Shirley put in her head. "That was way more than I needed to know, Shirley. Really, Big Dog?"

Shirely laughed with her. "Let me tell you, I don't know where he got that nickname. Talk about some false advertisement."

Robin feigned shock and horror. "Shirley, I have to work with him. I'm never going get that out of my head."

Shirley sobered. "Okay, you win. Just tell me, did the outfit work?"

"It so totally did."

Shirley squealed. "I knew it would!" Robin could Shirley's kids yelling in the background. Robin put her hand over the phone and yelled something back to the kids. "I gotta go. Pick a day this week, but you are coming over for lunch and giving me details."

Robin tried to get her to agree to Thursday, but Shirley didn't want to wait that long. After some back and forth, they settled on Tuesday. When Robin hung up the phone, she was still smiling. She couldn't remember the last time a girl called her to gossip like that, probably not since high school. She also realized that she didn't even notice the usual whine in Shirley's voice. She spent the rest of the day cleaning her apartment and doing nothing in particular, content for the first time in a long time.

On Monday, Robin got to work exactly on time. During the morning briefing, the shift commander told them about another break in last night. All patrol officers were told to be on the lookout for suspicious persons. Robin hung back ater the meeting to talk to her commander. She thought she saw Eddie frown as he left the room, but she has no idea why. At least not until Joe spoke up from behind her. "I tried calling you on Saturday, but you didn't answer."

She didn't bother looking behind her. "I was busy. I never heard the phone ring." With that, she stood and walked to the front of her room where her watch commander was gathering some paperwork. "Sir," she interrupted him, "I was wondering if you've spoken with any of the local security companies about the break-ins." From the corner of her eye, she saw Morelli leave the room and breathed a sigh of relief.

Her commander gave her a hard look. "Why would I consult with private security on a police matter, Russell?"

She was on thin ice, and she knew it, the police department liked sharing information with security companies even less than they did with other law enforcement agencies. "I was talking to an acquaintance this weekend when they had a call come in for a residential alarm. Since they have their own patrol units, they were dispatched to the scene. I just thought that if we reached out, we could get some more eyes on the streets looking for the perps."

Her commander raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "You have a mole inside Rangeman?"

She backtracked quickly. "Not really a mole, sir, and I never specified Rangeman."

He smirked. "They're the only security company around that does their own patrols." Robin looked at her feet. She felt that she was embarassed that she didn't think of that on her own. "It's not a bad idea, though. Tell you what. Since you're so filled with the spirit of cooperation, why don't you reach out to Manoso. Don't give any info away for free, but let him know to be on the lookout for residential burglaries. A little PR goes a long way."

Robin swallowed hard. "Me, sir?"

"Yes, you. You showed the initiative, you should be the one to make contact. I like cops that can think on their feet, Russell. Let's see how far you can take this."

Robin almost felt herself blush. "Yes, sir. Right away."

Her captain dismissed her, and she made her way out to her car. Now she just had to figure out how to get a meeting with Ranger Manoso and then get through it without blurting out that she was talking to Hal while he was on monitors. She had a feeling that things like that were frowned upon."

Once Robin was in her patrol car, she called Rangeman. She didn't know who answered the phone, but as soon as she introduced herself as being from the TPD, she was put through to Ranger. He agreed to meet with her at two o'clock, then hung up without a goodbye. She was a little intimidated by him, and put off by his rude phone manners, but then again, he was the CEO of his company, and was meeting her as a courtesy. Satisfied with her progress, she started her vehicle and began her patrol.

Robin pulled up in front of the door to Rangeman at one forty five. She was unfamiliar with the man at the front desk, but when she remembered what Hal had told her about desk duty, she introduced herself with a smile. The guard made a phone call and asked her to wait to be escorted upstairs. When the elevator doors opened, she silently hoped that Hal would be there, but she hid her disappointment when Stephanie Plum walked out.

Stephanie hadn't changed much since the last time Robin had seen her. Instead of wearing her usual jeans and a girly tee, she was wearing black cargo pants and a stretchy top emblazoned with the Rangeman logo. Stephanie had always been a nice person, though, even when she found out that they were seeing the same guy. She greeted Robin with a smile and a warm, "Hey, Robin, what brings you to our neck of the woods?" and led her to the elevator.

Robin stepped in and Stephanie pushed the button for three. "I have a meeting scheduled with Ranger."

Stephanie looked surprised. "Interested in jumping ship and coming to the dark side? We have cookies. Of course they're gluten free, sugar free, fat free vegan cookies, but Ella makes them for me and they taste like heaven."

Robin laughed. She couldn't remember a day that Stephanie didn't stop at the Tasty Pastry for a Boston Creme donut and now she was eating vegan cookies? That seemed wrong on many levels. "I think I'll stick with the devil I know for now, but thanks for the offer."

The elevator opened into a short hallway. Stephanie gave her a mini tour as they walked. "The gym's through those double doors right there." Robin thought she saw Stephanie give a small shudder. She kept walking and pointed to another door. "Medical's right there, and this is conference room B." She gave a quick knock on the door. At the barked, "Enter," she opened it. "Is there anything you need? We have coffee and bottled water if you'd like something to drink."

Robin smiled at her as she walked through the door. "No, thank you. I'm fine."

Stephanie smiled and said, "All right. It was good seeing you again, Robin." With that, she stepped outside and closed the door.

Robin turned and got her first up close look at Ranger. She had seen him before, but usually from a distance and most often at the scene of yet another one of Stephanie's exploded cars. If Joe was described as being movie star handsome, the only way she could describe Ranger would be to say that he was a prime example of male perfection. He stood at about six feet and had dark Latino skin with black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a suit that was cut to showcase a magnificent body and when he extended his hand to shake hers, his cologne made her weak in the knees. She wondered for a second how Stephanie kept up with him, but settled herself quickly and got down to business. "Mr. Manoso, thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

He nodded. "Officer Russell, we always try to be accommodating for members of the Trenton Police Department. Plese have a seat." He pulled a chair out for her and took one across the small table from her. "What can I do for you?"

She decided to be direct with him. "I was wondering if your company has noticed an increase in residential alarms lately?"

Ranger raised an eyebrow. "Any client information is of course confidential, but I'm currious as to why that information would be of interest to the TPD?"

Robin squirmed a little under his gaze. "We've noticed a slight upswing in the number of home invasions reported in the last week or so. While trying to ascertain a pattern, I thought it was possible that attempted break-ins might not be reported if say the perpetrators were scared off by an alarm. I deduced that the best way to get this data would be to reach out to security companies in the area, and Rangeman struck me as being one that would keep meticulous records of such an occurance."

The corner of Ranger's mouth tipped up, almost like he was thinking about smiling. "Good thinking, Officer Russell. Why don't we check it out together." He stood and walked to the door. Holding it open for her, he led her to a staircase at the end of the hall. Unlike the tour Stephanie had given her earlier, Ranger was silent as they walked up the two flights of stairs.

Most of the fifth floor was a sea of cubicles in an open floor plan. Some people were there using computers, and a few of them were on phones. Her eyes were drawn to Stephanie who was sitting in a cube of her own, with another Latino man leaning over to talk to her. At the far end of the open space was a glass enclosed room filled with monitors. Robin assumed that was where Hal had spent most of last week. As soon as the door closed, the man talking to Stephanie bolted upright. He looked as though he had a family resemblance to Ranger, and Robin wondered if this was the Les that Hal told her about on their date. He had short, spikey hair and green eyes and Robin could picture women falling all over themselves to get close to him.

Ranger stopped short of the cubicle. "Santos, am I to assume that you don't have enough work to keep you busy?" Stephanie snorted a laugh that she tried to cover with a cough.

Les tried to stand even straighter. "No, sir. I was assisting Stephanie with one of her searches." Stephanie rolled her eyes so I assumed he tried that excuse before. He took a step closer and held out his hand to Robin in greeting. Instead of shaking it, though, he leaned down like he was going to kiss her knuckles. Robin yanked her hand back a little abruptly. Unfazed, Les asked her, "You sure you don't want any cookies, Officer Russell?"

Robin had plenty of experience ignoring innuendo. With a straight face she asked, "Are you attempting to bribe a police officer, Mr. Santos?"

Stephanie dropped her head onto her desk and dissolved into a fit of giggles. Les took the hint and gracefully accepted defeat. "Perhaps some other time." He turned and walked away.

Before he took two steps, Ranger said, "0500." Les hung his head and kept walking. Ranger ushered her forward until they were at the control room. He asked the men on duty if there were any residential alarms over the weekend. One of the men typed something on a keyboard and brought a report up on one of the screens. Ranger frowned at what he saw. Turning to Robin he said, "It seems you may be on to something."

Ranger told Robin about the residential alarms they had encountered over the past week. He assured her that he would personally talk to his clients and let her know if he found anything out worth sharing with the police. He escorted her to the elevator before returning to work. On the ride down, Robin thought about what Hal had told her about Rangeman being a tight ship. From what she saw today, he was right on the money.

When the elevator doors opened in the lobby, Robin headed straight for the door. On an impulse, she turned to the guard manning the front desk and said, "Thank you for your help..." She let the end of the sentance trail off, giving him a chance to reply.

"Brett, ma'am."

She smiled. "Thank you, Brett. I hope your ass doesn't get numb from riding a desk all day." She turned again and walked out to the sound of his laugh.

The rest of her day passed without incident, but there was a surprise waiting for her when she got back to the station. Before she could get to her desk to type up her reports, the Desk Sergeant told her to report to her Shift Commander's office. She headed straight there and stuck her head in his doorway. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

He waived her inside and finished the phone call he was on. Once he hung up, he said to her, "Good work today, Russell."

Confused, she asked, "Sir?"

He folded his hands on his desk. "Got a call from the Chief today. He said that Manoso called him to thank him for reaching out. Said that one of their clients that got hit is out of town. Offered to let you access the scene tomorrow morning with a couple of his guys if you want. Probably nothing will come from it, but it can't hurt to get some cop eyes on the scene. You in?"

She was shocked by how much trust was being placed in her hands. She only hoped she didn't screw it up. "Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Good. Report in to me here at nine o'clock. Wear soft clothes for the walkthrough, but bring your uniform so you can start patrol when you're done. Dismissed."

Robin walked back to her desk in a daze. Part of her was amazed that she was being offered a chance to work in plainclothes, even if it was only for a few hours. If she impressed her higher ups, she could possibly be considered for the next detective's exam. The other part of her was still filled with doubts. If she blew this assignment, she might never get a chance at the exam. She put it out of her head and worked on her reports. She still had to get through the rest of her day here, then dinner at her mother's first.

She got off work right at the end of her shift. She showered and changed in the locker room so that she could go straight to her mother's house. When she walked in the door, she was stopped short by the sight of three plates on the dining room table. "Mom?" she called out, knowing her mother would be in the kitchen.

Sure enough, he mother answered, "Come on back," from the rear of the house.

She walked into the kitchen to find her mother fussing over some pots on the stove. She looked at her daughter and smiled. "You're right on time. Why don't you stir the gravy, and I'll finish getting the vegetables done."

Robin dutifully walked to the stove and started stirring. As casually as she could she asked, "Is there any reason why there are three place settings at the table?"

Her mother turned to a cupboard to get a serving bowl, but not before Robin caught the hint of embarrassment. Still not making eye contact, her mother said, "I just thought it would be nice to have another guest for dinner."

Robin rolled her eyes. "And would this guest be of the male persuasion?"

Her mother busied herself putting the green beans into a bowl. Once that was done, she looked her daughter in the eye. "Yes. I thought it might be nice if you had dinner with someone more than your mom. I worry about you. You're never going to find a good man while you're playing with that Morelli boy. You need to get out more, Robin, or before you know it, you'll be old and single and bitter about wasting your time with a man that's just no good."

To say that Robin was surprised by her mother's outburst would be an understatement of epic proportions. She turned the burner down under the gravy and gave it a final stir. "Hey, it's all right mom. I stopped seeing Joe months ago, and I have absolutely no plans to start again." Her mother pressed her lips together and nodded. Robin wrapped her mother in a hug. "There's more to it than that, though, isn't there? I'm a big girl, mom, whatever it is, you can tell me."

Her mother took the pot of gravy and poured it into another bowl. "I just see history repeating itself, and I would do anything to spare you from that."

Her mother was spared from saying anything more by a knock at the door. She took a deep breath and said, "You go and answer that. Who knows, it could be the man of your dreams."

Robin rolled her eyes. "Mom, men from the Burg are the stuff of nightmares. I'll get the door, though, and we'll have a nice dinner with whoever this is. Once dinner's over, we're going to have a good long talk."

Robin took the green beans and left them on the table as she made her way to the front door. She did a mental head slap when she saw Anthony Gorman on the other side. Opening the door, she said, "Anthony, what a surprise. I haven't seen you since I arrested you last month."

Anthony paused outside the door with one foot raised as though he stopped in mid-step. He put his foot down and swallowed. "Robin? It's good to see you?"

Robin smiled, but it had a lot of teeth. "Come in, Anthony, we were expecting you."

He looked like he was debating whether or not to cut his losses and run, when Robin's mom came out of the kitchen. Placing the roast pork on the table, she walked over to where Anthony and Robin still filled the doorway. She bubbled where Robin simmered. "Anthony, how good to see you. I'm so glad you could make it."

He finally came in, handing the flowers he bought to the woman he deemed the safer of the two. "Thank you for inviting me. I got these just for you."

Mrs. Russell took the flowers and sniffed. "They're lovely. Robin, could you show our guest to the table while I take these into the kitchen?"

"Sure, mom." She walked him to the table. Waving her hand like Vanna White she said, "Here's the table, have a seat." Her smile looked a little less serial killer, but Anthony still wasn't sure he would spend the night on the right side of some prison bars.

Robin's mom brought out the rest of the dinner. Once everyone was eating, Mrs. Russell tried to start up a conversation. "Anthony, did I hear you say that you know Robin through work?"

While he choked on his glass of wine, Robin told her, "Through my work, mom. I arrested him for drunk &amp; disorderly and indecent exposure about a month ago."

Mrs. Russell slapped Anthony on the back until he started breathing again. "Oh, my," she said, "Did they throw the book at you?"

Robin closed her eyes and kept her mouth shut. Anthony told her, "No, ma'am. Since it was my first offense, I got community service picking up trash in the park on weekends."

Mrs. Russell took a sip of her wine. "Well, I'm glad that you're rehabilitated. Would you like some dessert?"

After they finished dessert, Anthony left the house at a dead run. Robin couldn't say that she was sorry to see him go. Once the dinner dishes were in the dishwasher, Robin poured a couple of glasses of wine and joined her mother in the living room. Her mother accepted the glass but tried to avoid the conversation. "It's getting late. You should probably head home."

Robin took a sip. "I'd rather you tell me why you get so worked up about Joe and why you said you don't want to see history repeat itself."

"I just meant that I don't want to see you go through that whole mess again."

Robin started to get mad. "Mom, I'm not two anymore. I screwed up with Joe, I can admit that. Why do you think I'm not going to get past him. Don't you have any faith in me?"

"Robin, that's not what I meant. I just," she paused to drink the rest of her wine in one long gulp. With a defeated sigh she said, "Just... Hell, you're not the first woman in our family to get sucked in by the Morelli charm."

Robin set her glass on the table. "Mom?"

Her mother buried her face in her hands and used her fingertips to rub her eyes. "It happened years ago, but sometimes it seems like yesterday."

Robin put her hand on her mother's knee. "What happened?"

Her mother looked at the ceiling. "Anthony Morelli Senior happened." She took her daughter's hand and squeezed it. "Your father and I were going through a rough patch. I was at a bar drinking my troubles away and he was there. He listened while I bitched. He was so charming and sympathetic. Told me how he knew exactly what I was going through. He said that he and Angie were in a similar situation. I don't remember when we started sleeping together, but things at home just seemed to get worse and worse, and Anthony was always there with a sympathetic ear and a strong shoulder to cry on.

"The day he died, he was on his way to meet me at some nasty little hotel on Route One. He had been drinking, and I found out later that he had knocked Angie around for questioning him, when he drove off the road and into one of those concrete dividers. She always knew where he went for his little liaisons, and she found out that I was the one waiting there for him. When I went to his funeral, she told me to go to hell with the rest of his whores and leave her alone. That's how your father found out. Once we got home from the funeral parlor, he packed his bags and left. Had the divorce papers delivered by certified mail a week later because he never wanted to see me again.

"I lost a good husband because I fell for the Morelli charm. You lost your father because I was weak. For years every time I went out of the house, people would just shake their heads and avoid me. When everyone found out about you and Joe, I was afraid that the whole mess was happening again. Joe looks and acts so much like his father sometimes that I can't help but see the similarities. I don't want that for you, Robin. I don't want you to miss out on finding the love of your life because you couldn't get out from under his spell."

Robin moved to the couch and wrapped her arms around her mother. "I'm so sorry, mom. I remember when daddy left, but how come I don't remember any of this happening?"

Her mother laid her head on her daughter's shoulder and sighed. "Oh, honey, you were only about six years old. Even though all the adults knew, we tried our best to keep it from affecting the kids. Not even the Morelli children know the truth about what happened that night. Please don't make the same mistakes I made."

Robin kissed the top of her mother's head. "I promise to do my best not to get involved with him again." In an effort to reassure her mother, Robin told her, "I went out on a date on Saturday."

Her mother sat up and looked at her daughter. "Really?"

Robin smiled. "Yes, really. I had a good time."

"When can I meet him?"

"Mom, it was our first date."

Her mother smiled for the first time since they sat down. "How did it go?"

Robin closed her eyes and remembered the date. Opening them she said, "It was nice. He was a perfect gentleman, and I can't wait to see where it goes."


	9. Sharing the love

**I decided to post this today, so it didn't get lost in the holiday shuffle. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I have much to be thankful for, including finding a great bunch of friends and family here at FF. I kinda like not being the crazy family member with the potty mouth and insane hair (or at least not the only one). If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, or celebrated it last month, then I'll say Happy Thursday tomorrow! :-)**

The next morning, Robin felt a sense of déjà vu as she stood in front of her closet. She sipped her coffee and agonized over what to wear. She finally decided on the simple black pantsuit and light blue shirt that she usually wore for court dates. Once the decision was made, she zipped through the rest of her morning routine and headed to work.

Her shift commander took a look and nodded at her when she walked into his office. She figured that meant that she had chosen correctly. He didn't bother with pleasantries when he spoke. "You're expected at Rangeman by nine thirty. You're supposed to drive around back to the parking garage, and you'll be met there."

Robin nodded, snapped out a quick, "Yes, sir," and left. She had enough time to stop by the Tasty Pastry on the way there, but decided that she'd rather not show up with donut jelly smeared on her shirt. Since she didn't want to show up too early, she drove around the streets of the Chambersburg section of Trenton where she grew up. She got so lost in thought about what her mother told her, that she was almost late getting to Rangeman.

She pulled up in entrance to the parking garage and stared at the gate blocking her access. She was starting to wonder how the hell she was supposed to get past it when it started to slide open on its own. She drove in and parked in the first available slot. Getting out of her cruiser, she smirked at the sight of her cruiser parked among the gleaming black SUVs. The door to the building opened and her heart gave a little leap at the sight of Hal stepping out.

She was glad that she decided against the donut when he leaned against the wall and simply said, "Officer Russell."

She was confused and a little hurt, but simply said, "Hal." His eyes slid to the left, and she followed them to the wall where she could see a security camera mounted. The knot in her belly loosened when she realized that he was most likely telling her that they were being watched. She held out her hand to shake his. "Thank you for your cooperation." When he gave her hand a gentle squeeze before he let it go, she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

He led her toward one of the SUVs. "We aim to please." The rest of the tension fled when she realized that he had used the same phrase she said to him when he was on monitor duty. He opened the passenger door for her and helped her into the vehicle. Once she was situated, he walked around and got in the driver's side. As soon as his door was closed, he looked at her and said, "Well, this is a surprise."

She did a mental head slap. "I really didn't mean to insert myself into Rangeman. After the morning briefing on Monday, I asked my shift commander if he had reached out to any of the alarm companies about the break-ins. Next thing I know, I have a meeting with Ranger and I'm told to show up in soft clothes for a ride along. Really this is your fault. If I wasn't thinking about you instead of keeping my head down and listening at the meeting, I wouldn't have remembered the alarm, and I certainly wouldn't have said anything about it."

One of Hal's eyebrows went straight up and the ghost of a smile skated around his lips. "You were thinking about me?"

She looked straight out the windshield of the car, but she couldn't stop the smile that was fighting its way out of her. "Maybe."

Before Robin could say anything else, the door to the building opened and Cal ambled out. He was just a hair shorter and slightly less muscled than Hal, but if the two of them were standing side by side, Cal was the one you would look at first, the flaming skull tattoo in the middle of his forehead made sure of that. Of all the men at Rangeman, he was the one she saw out and about most often, but that was because he was dating Joe's sister, Cathy. He got into the backseat of the SUV and Hal made the introductions. "Cal, this is Officer Russell, Officer Russell, Cal Galloway."

Robin stuck her hand out and shook Cal's. "Nice to meet you, but please call me Robin."

Cal nodded. "You can call me Cal."

Hal started the SUV and drove out of the garage. Now that Cal was in the vehicle with them, he was back to being strictly professional. "Ranger asked us to take you on a perimeter sweep so that you could see the general area where we have had alarms going off before we go to the scene. Since the client is out of town, they made arrangements through Rangeman to replace the damaged lock. We retained the old one if you would like to have a look at it."

"Thank you, I'd like to do that."

Hal drove them from Hamilton Avenue to Chambers Street and then down Morris Avenue. Robin took a notebook from her purse and wrote as he said, "As you can see, the alarms we have responded to are all centered in the Chambersburg area. Since you spoke to Ranger yesterday, he's ordered us to double our patrols in this area." He stopped on Emory Avenue next to a modest duplex, not unlike the one that she herself had grown up in. The three of them got out of the car and walked down the sidewalk to the rear of the house. "We figured that whoever it was chose this house because the rear door is in close proximity to the street." They walked a few feet to the back door, and Robin took a look around. They were in a side alley under a covered porch. From a pessimistic point of view, this was a perfect spot for a burglary. She was surprised that they didn't get hit more often, but she supposed that was why they had a good alarm and an excellent alarm company.

When Robin finished looking the property over, the climbed back in the car and drove back to Rangeman. On the way, Robin verified that most of the burglaries they responded to were in the same geographic area as Rangeman's. When they got there, Hal and Cal showed her to a room on the first floor. Inside the room was a Latino man of average height, which made him appear much smaller while he was standing next to the much taller men. Without a word, he pointed to a counter and Cal walked over. He picked up the lock and set it on the table so that Robin could take a look at the pieces. Hal told her, "From what we can see, it looks like they tried to bump the lock. When that didn't work, they just used a drill on it."

Since the inner workings were exposed, Robin could see that it was a bump proof lock, which was something you wouldn't notice unless you were trying to bump it. Even though she knew it was pointless she asked, "Did you dust it?"

Cal spoke to the other man in rapid Spanish, and he replied in kind. Hal told her, "Hector says he did, but as you can imagine, there was nothing there."

Robin shrugged and nodded because she didn't really expect any other answer. She thanked them again for their time and cooperation, and shook each man's hand. When she shook Hector's, she took note of the gang symbols on his arms and the teardrops tattoed near his eye, but she didn't let that affect her opinion of him. If Hal trusted him, then she could too, probably.

Once Hal and Cal were back on patrol Cal asked, "So, Robin Russell is the mystery woman?" Hal tried to feign ignorance, but he could feel the blush start to rise. "Hot damn, I knew it. Now that I know who she is, you going to tell me how far you really got with her?"

Hal slammed on the breaks and pulled the SUV to the curb. Trying not to punch his partner, he looked at him and said, "I told you exactly what happened on the date, and I don't like your insinuation."

Cal held his hands up in surrender. "All right, all right. I'm just saying that I could feel the sexual tension between the two of you all the way from the back seat."

Hal faced forward again, but he didn't pull out into traffic yet. He dropped his head against the headrest and said, "I never said the chemistry wasn't there. I just didn't act on it."

Cal grinned. "Well Embrasse moi tchew, you really like her."

Hal rolled his eyes and pulled back out onto the street. "Kiss your own ass."

When Robin got back to the police station, she headed straight for the locker room. Once she changed into her uniform, she headed straight to her shift commander's office. On her way there, she nearly ran straight into Joe. He looked her up and down and said, "Heard you went slumming today."

She rolled her eyes. "Joe, I don't have time for this. I went to Rangeman today to pursue a lead on the recent burglaries. If you have a problem with that, too bad. I don't answer to you."

He looked interested. "You think one of them may have had something to do with it? I'd take a closer look at the gang banger they have working for them. I'll meet you over at the motel at lunchtime if you want to compare notes."

Robin sighed. "Joe, I'm not going there. I don't think we should see each other that way anymore."

Joe gave her a puzzled look. "Why not? We both enjoyed ourselves. I see no reason not to continue."

Robin looked around. "Do you really want to have this discussion here? Look, you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want, but I won't be there."

He gave her a sneer. "You'll never find anyone else that can give it to you like I do. Don't expect me to hang around waiting for you to change your mind, and believe me, you will change it."

Robin walked away muttering to herself, "I sure as hell hope not."

At lunchtime, Robin pulled up in front of Eddie and Shirley's house. Shirley was waiting just inside the door with her toddler on her hip. When Robin got out of her cruiser, Shirley opened her front door and said, "I thought you'd never get here." Robin went inside and followed Shirley to the kitchen. Shirley laid out tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. "Sorry it's not as good as Pino's, but EJ is down with a 24 hour bug and this is his favorite meal. If you don't want this, I pobably have some leftover pot roast in the fridge."

Robin sat down at the table. "Are you kidding me? This is great. It's exactly what my mom used to make me when I wasn't feeling good."

Shirley set her youngest in his high chair and gave him a sandwich of his own. Once he was settled, she sat and the table and said, "Okay, spill."

Robin swallowed the soup she was eating. "Well, the dress was definitely a winner."

Shirley just started at her. "And?"

Robin didn't even try to hide her smile. "And I _really_ had a good night." Shirley did a little bump and boogie type of victory dance in her seat. Robin laughed when the toddler joined in the fun. After everyone calmed down, Robin gave Shirley all the details of the date, from when she opened the door to her good night kiss.

When she finished the story, Shirley rested her chin in the palm of her hand and sighed. "So, are you going to see him again?"

Robin put her empty plates in the sink and leaned against the counter. "I kinda saw him at work this morning."

Shirley waived that off with a "pfft. I'm not talking about seeing him. I want to know if you're going to _see_ him see him."

Robin laughed. "I think I understood that, and I really hope so."

o0()0o

Robin just stepped out of the shower after a long day when her phone rang. She ran to the kitchen and grabbed it off the counter. When she saw who was on the other end, she answered it with a breathless, "Hey."

Hal said, "Are you still thinking about me?"

Robin twirled a lock of her still wet hair. "Maybe."

Hal laughed. "Have you had dinner yet?"

"No, I was just about to cook if you want to come over." He didn't have to know that she was about to cook a Lean Cuisine from the freezer. If he wanted to come over, she would get dressed at the speed of light and run to the store for some chicken.

"You ever been to Shorty's?"

Robin thought about it. Shorty's was a hole in the wall bar that was located only a couple of blocks from Rangeman. It looked a little run down on the outside, but it was also the kind of place where she wouldn't be likely to see anyone she knew there. "No, I haven't."

"They have the best pizza in the area if you're interested. I can meet you there in about twenty minutes."

Robin was interested, and not only in pizza. "Make it thirty. I just got out of the shower and I have to get dressed." She wanted to laugh when he groaned before he hung up. She raced to the bedroom and grabbed her magic jeans. She always believed that you could only have one pair of magic jeans at a time. They fit perfectly, even if she put on a little weight, and they did amazing things for her ass. She matched them with a pink lace-edged camisole and a lightweight black blazer. She slipped her pink heels on and looked at herself in the mirror. Her outfit might not be as 'knock your socks off' as the dress she wore for their date, but she thought she looked pretty darn good. Considering herself ready, she grabbed her purse and her phone and raced out the door.

Traffic was light as she drove, which was why she was only a couple of minutes late. She walked inside and looked around, spotting Hal in a corner booth towards the back of the restaurant. Cal was sitting with him, but stood as soon as he saw her. He met her halfway between the door and the table where Hal sat. He held out his hand, so Robin took it. He nodded to her and said, "Officer Russell."

She smiled and said, "I told you to call me Robin."

He leaned down and whispered in her ear. She gave him a confused look, which made him laugh. Instead of saying anything else, he shook his head and went to the bar. There was a pizza waiting there, which he picked up and took out the door.

Robin looked back at him one last time, shook her head, and walked the rest of the way to Hal's table. He stood and gave her a quick kiss before she sat down. Once she was seated, she asked him, "Did you know Cal speaks French?"

Hal laughed. "He speaks Cajun French, which is a little different, but yes, I knew. What little pearl of wisdom did he give you?"

Robin still looked confused. "I took Spanish in high school. It started with 'On pardon', but I didn't understand any of it."

Hal shrugged. "Sorry, he hasn't shared that one with me. I can ask him next time I see him, but be warned, the last piece of advice I got from him involved potatoes."

Robin laughed. "I'll pass, thank you. So what do you recommend here?"

They wound up ordering a couple of beers and a pizza with sausage and onions. When the waitress left, Hal asked, "So, did you learn anything today?"

Robin thought about it. "I learned that whoever is behind the burglaries is even more active than we thought they were. I also learned that they are mostly staying within the Burg." On a personal note, she learned that Hal looked hot as hell in Rangeman black with his weapon strapped to his waist, but she wasn't ready to share that piece of information. "I think you're right about them using a bump key. The only reason we know they go in the back door is that they leave it open when they're done."

As she was talking, the waitress brought over their food and drinks. Robin took a bite and let out a soft moan. After she finished chewing, she said, "You're right. This is better than Pino's." She was so engrossed in the pizza, she didn't notice Hal shift uncomfortably in his seat, or the flush that turned his cheeks pink.

As they were eating, Hal asked her, "How do you feel about Cal knowing that we're seeing each other?" He sounded casual, but Robin was pretty sure that her answer was important to him.

She reached across the table and took his hand. "Hal, I don't care who knows that we're seeing each other. I like you, and I'm not going to hide that fact, but I'm not going to advertise it either. The Burg Grapevine will continue along just fine without knowing every detail of my life. I did tell Shirley Gazarra, though. She helped me pick out the dress I wore, so I'm sure Eddie knows." She let go of his hand and took a sip of her beer. When she put the glass down, she started playing with the water ing on the table and didn't look up. "I understand if you want to keep it between us, though. I don't exactly have the best reputation around here right now."

Hal reached over and took her hand back. He gave it a gentle squeeze until she looked up into his eyes. "I knew about that before I asked you out." She pulled her hand away and looked back down at the table. Hal reached over and lifted her chin. He hated the fact that she looked so sad. "I knew about your reputation before I asked you out, but it didn't matter to me. I like you, Robin, and I want to take the time to get to know you."

Robin was so grateful she could have cried. Instead, she smiled and leaned into his hand. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to settle herself. Opening her eyes, she told him, "That sounds good to me."

After dinner, Hal walked her to her car. Before she could leave the curb to walk to the driver's side door, Hal took the leftover pizza box from her and set it on the roof of the car. He pulled her to him and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and opened her mouth for him. He tasted like pizza and smelled like Drakkar Noir. By the time they broke apart, he was leaning against her door, and she was nestled between his thighs, pressed against the hard planes of his body. She leaned her head against his muscular chest and tried to get her breathing under control. Kissing Hal was a dizzying and electrifying experience, and she couldn't wait to do it again.

Hal kissed the top of her head and ran his hand up and down her back. With a chuckle, he told her, "I've wanted to do that since I saw you this morning." He straightened up and gave her one last squeeze before letting her go. He picked up the pizza and walked her around to the driver's side. Once she was settled in, he leaned down and handed her the box. After she set it on the passenger seat, he gave her another kiss. Pulling away, he told her, "Drive carefully, Robin. I'll call you tomorrow."

Robin was so dazed thinking about the kiss on the drive home that she almost didn't notice the Black Acura MDX in her parking lot. The driver's side door opened as she got out of her car. She was reaching for her service weapon when Stephanie Plum hopped out of the SUV. Rolling her eyes, she took her hand out of her purse and reached back in the car for the pizza box. By the time she stood back up, Stephanie was leaning against the side of her SUV. "So, you and Hal, huh?"

Robin blinked. How did she know? She tried to brush it off. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Stephanie snorted. "Please. I saw the two of you in Shorty's. You two were so into each other you wouldn't have noticed if I was jumping up and down and singing karaoke."

Robin had heard what Stephanie called singing before. "Believe me, if you started singing, we'd have noticed."

Stephanie couldn't disagree with that. "Okay, you have a point. Anyway, I saw the two of you together, and I wanted to let you know..."

Robin got mad. "Look, before you start on me too, I want you to know that Hal knows about my past. I'm not taking advantage of him, if that's what you're worried about."

Stephanie put her hands on her hips and yelled right back at her. "Well you can just take that attitude and shove it. I was going to tell you that you two look good together, but now I won't bother."

Robin thumped her head on the roof of her car. "I'm sorry, Steph. It just seems like everything that happened between me and you and Joe is the big elephant in the room sometimes."

Stephanie snorted, but she stopped yelling. "Robin, I'm so far over Joe that he isn't even a smudge in my rear view mirror. You need to forgive yourself so that you can move past it. Hal's a great guy, I want him to be happy." Stephanie turned and walked to her SUV. She opened the door, but turned back and said, "I'll still kick your ass if you hurt him, though." She smiled and hopped into the car.

Robin was still smiling when she opened her door. She kicked off her shoes and put the rest of the pizza in the fridge. Grabbing a bottle of beer, she went into the living room and sat on the couch. She was glad that Stephanie seemed to be protective of Hal, and relieved that she didn't hold Robin's past against her. Robin took a sip of her beer and thought about what Stephanie had said about letting go of the past. It sounded so simple, but in reality it was one of the hardest things she had to do.

She thought about the years she spent with Joe. She knew she wasn't the only girl in his life. In fact, she wasn't even the most important. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that it wasn't entirely Joe's fault. She had to take some of the blame because she let him treat her like that. She thought about the way she was with Hal and smiled. She liked Hal but more importantly, she liked who she was when she was with him, confident, flirty, and fun to be around. Joe may not be a smudge on her rear view mirror yet, but Robin was determined to get there.

Once she figured out where she wanted to be, she thought about her mother. There were a lot of similarities between what had happened to each of them. She wondered if her mother ever really dated after her dad left. Robin couldn't really remember anyone special in her mom's life, but twenty odd years was a long time.

She picked up her phone, then decided that it was too late to call her mother. She realized that it could wait until tomorrow, but it was a call she had to make. It was time to make sure that both Russell women got over the Morrellis.

She picked up her empty beer bottle and tossed it in the recycling bin. Grabbing her shoes, she brought them with her to the bedroom so that she could put them away before she got ready for bed. The last thing she did before she went to sleep was to send Stephanie a text that simply said, "Thank you for that."


	10. Tonight's the night

**One of my reviews asked a question about Cathy and Cal. They do have their own story (Burning Love), They just keep showing up wherever they please. I have a lot of fun with Cal, he's like my own little Cajun Confucius. We don't see as much as Ram and Gayle (Carma), but I have a feeling they'll be back with a vengeance before you know it (wink wink Margaret). The way it stands, I think there's two or three more in the series, but I could be wrong about that...**

**Anyway, if you feel the love, share the love, I adore reading your reviews! (Oh, and the Characters aren't mine, they belong to JE, I don't get anything other than my own amusement, you know the drill)**

**I also should tell you that there's a big old smut warning for this chapter. If you don't want to read it, just skip the section marked with a o0()0o.**

On Wednesday, Robin got called in to another burglary. When she pulled up in front of Edna Gluck's house, She could see her Buick parked in front of the house. Getting out of her cruiser, she knocked on the front door, but didn't get any answer. She radioed back to the station, and they informed her that a neighbor called in an open door. Robin cautiously walked around to the rear of the house. As she went, she tried to see in the windows, but all the blinds were pulled shut.

The back door was open, but Robin still knocked and called out before she entered. She entered the house weapon first. The kitchen was a shambles, with drawers hung open, shelves were ripped off the walls. Robin called out again, "Mrs. Gluck? This is Officer Russell of the Trenton Police Department. Are you still in the house?"

When Robin stepped out of the kitchen and into the dining room, she could see a pair of legs by the front door. Relying on her training, she continued to clear each room as she walked towards the form lying by the front door. Mrs. Gluck had most likely walked in on the burglary in progress. Her eyes were still open, and Robin fought the urge to touch her and disturb the scene. She called in the incident, and continued her inspection. Once she was sure that she was the only living person in the house, she went back out the rear door and waited for the detectives to arrive.

Robin remained on scene until she was relieved and sent back to the station. As a result, by the time she finished her reports and clocked off, she was very late getting home. Regardless of the hour, she called her mother. She forgot her resolve to talk about the past, and instead made her mother promise to go in and out her back door. If the door was open, she promised to walk away and call the police. Her mother had already heard about Mrs. Gluck, so she agreed to take every precaution.

Once she hung up with her mother, she went to take a shower. As she stood under the hot water, she finally allowed herself to let go. Robin stood under the spray, shivering and crying, until the water started to get cold. When she got out, she put on a pair of old, comfortable sweats, and climbed into bed. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to keep any dinner down, and ever time she closed her eyes, she could see Mrs. Gluck staring at her.

Since she couldn't get to sleep, she took out her notebook and a map of Trenton. She already knew that all of the houses being hit were located in the Burg, but she wanted to see if there were any other patterns she could identify.

On Thursday, Hal called her and invited her to dinner on Sunday night. Since she was off on Monday, she readily agreed. Every day, Robin updated the map that she had stuck to her bedroom wall. She added notes that she took during her morning briefings, and stuck new pins in every time another house was hit. By the time she finished her shift on Saturday, there were a lot of pins in the map.

On Sunday, Robin was laying on her bed with her head hung over the side looking at the map when there was a knock on the door. She flipped off the bed and went to the door. Hal was there, looking good enough to eat. That was when she realized that she had forgotten about their date tonight. She looked at her watch and cringed. "Would you believe that I lost track of the time?"

He smoothed down a lock of her hair that was still sticking straight up. "What were you doing?"

She attempted to straighten her hair. "Trying to get a different perspective?"

Hal arched an eyebrow. "On?"

She pulled him inside and dragged him into her bedroom. She pointed at the map on the wall. "On this."

He walked up to the map and looked at each of the pins. "I assume that these are the places that got hit?"

She nodded. "The white pins are for places that had alarms. The door was unlocked, but nothing was stolen. Blue is for ones that had property stolen, but no damage to the premises. Green is for property damage in addition to heavy losses."

Hal looked closely at the red pin. "And this one is?"

Robin let out a sigh. "Mrs. Gluck."

Hal pulled her to him and tucked her up against his chest. "Mrs. Gluck?"

Robin shuddered. "Mrs. Gluck got home from her weekly canasta game early for the first time in years. I'm pretty sure she walked in on the burglar. I'm also pretty sure that she was hit on the head with the stone elephant statue that had been sitting on her fireplace mantle."

Hal gave her a squeeze. "I'm sorry, Robin."

She shook her head and said, "There's a pattern there, I know it. I just feel like if I could figure out the pattern, I'd be that much closer to figuring out what was going on."

Hal walked away from her and picked up the pack of pushpins sitting on her night stand. Pulling a few more white pins from the pack, he approached her map and stuck them in. He put the pack back on the nightstand and told her, "Those are the alarms that Rangeman responded to. I checked the log to get the other addresses."

Robin looked up at him. "You didn't have to do that for me."

He smiled at her. "I was currious." He took a step backwards and sat on her bed. He pulled her so that she was sitting between his legs, both of them looking at the map. "What can you tell me about what you see?"

She shrugged. "All the houses that got hit are in Chambersburg, but we already know that."

He put his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder. "Anything else?"

She shook her head. "There's more green pins than any other color."

"Okay, so we know they're not afraid of making some noise. What can you tell me about the homeowners?"

She thought about it. "Most of them work during the day. They come home at night and find their back door open and their valuables gone."

He nodded. "Most, or all?"

"Most. Some of the housewives don't work, but were out shopping or going to appointments when they were hit." Robin put her hand on his thigh and turned to look at him. "That means he watches the houses at least long enough to make sure they're empty." She stopped talking when she realized that his mouth was only inches away from hers. They both froze as they realized how close they were to each other. After what seemed like an eternity Robin whispered, "Hal, I don't want to look at the map anymore."

**o0()0o**

Robin wasn't sure if she closed the distance between them before he did or not, all she knew was that he was invading all of her senses. His body felt like heaven under her hands, and when he slipped his hand under her shirt and skimmed his fingers along the line of her stomach, she thought she would burn up on the spot.

Robin turned in his arms until she was straddling his thighs. She gasped when she felt his length pressed up against her intimately. All she could think was that he was wearing too much clothes, so she peeled his shirt up over his washboard abs.

Once she pulled his shirt off over his head, she stopped to look at him. Reaching out, she ran her hands across his wide shoulders, back to his pecs and then down his cut abs. Each muscle was clearly defined, and put together in the most amazing package. She slid her hands up arms that could probably crush her as he pulled her own shirt up and off. She wound her own arms around his neck and felt the first press of skin against skin.

She was shivering with need as he gently laid her across the bed. He kissed her as he reached behind her and undid the clasp of her bra. He kissed a trail down her arm, following the path of her bra strap. Once it was gone, he paused to take in the sight of her flushed skin. Her nipples were pebbled, and waiting for his touch. Cupping one breast in the palm of his strong hand, he continued his assault on her mouth.

Robin couldn't stop touching him, Hal's body was perfect. She unbuttoned his jeans, and whimpered when he pulled her hand away. He leaned back and rested on one elbow, anchoring both of her hands in one of his. His eyes had gone midnight blue with lust, and he was breathing heavily. He ran his free hand from her forehead, down the side of her face and under her chin. "I'll stop if you tell me to, Robin, but I want you."

Robin forgot how to breathe as the weight of his words settled across her skin. Her lips were already swollen from his kisses, and she thought she would die if he didn't let her touch him again soon. "I need you, Hal." He held her hands still as he leaned down and took her taut nipple between his teeth. When he bit down gently, every nerve ending in her body came to life. Hal seemed to know exactly how much pressure to use to drive her wild, and alternated the stinging bites with whisper soft kisses.

When she was sure that she couldn't take anymore, he used his other hand to pull her pants down just enough to expose her hipbone. He kissed a trail across her stomach and nipped her just under her belly button. releasing her hands, he pulled her pants off her long legs, leaving her wearing nothing but her panties. gripping her thighs, he kissed her over the lace.

Robin was crazy with need. She tunnelled her hands through his hair and moaned at his touch. When he slipped a finger under the lace and ran it over her lips, she arched her back and moaned his name. Hal took his time sliding the small scrap of lace from her body. He kissed one leg all the way down to her toes and reversed the path up the other leg.

Slowly, he opened her to his hungry gaze. She was glistening with moisture and moaning his name. He traced her outer folds with his tongue. Taking her clit between his teeth, he put his finger inside her and she shot off the bed in her first orgasm of the night.

Hal kept up his sensual torture until she was screaming his name again. When he felt her come back down from her second peak, he began to work his way up her body. He was kissing her throat when she planted her foot on the mattress and reversed their positions. Hal gripped her hips as her tongue invaded his mouth. He thrust his hips upward and she gasped at the feel of the rough denim between her thighs.

Robin took her time learning every inch of Hal's body. She delighted in his response as she ran her nails down his chest and traced each line of his abs with soft kisses. She carefully unzipped his jeans and worked them down his hips until his erection sprang free. Running her tongue down his length, she worked his jeans down his legs, making sure that he felt the press of her nails on his muscles.

Once he was gloriously naked, Robin slowly slid back up his body, feeling his muscles tighten as her hands wandered. She took the skin of his sac between her teeth and gave a gentle tug. Hal gripped her by her hair, but made no move to pull her off. Emboldened, she worked her way back up his cock and took the tip into her mouth. Hal shook with the effort to stay still as she worked his length down her throat. She used such an expert combination of lips and hands that his hips were soon thrusting off the bed and his hands were tightening in her hair. When she used her thumbs to rub his balls while she took him deeply down his throat, he came with a shout. She kept him in her mouth until he lay on the bed, spent.

Robin laid her head on his thigh and sighed. She could still feel little aftershocks rippling through her body. When his cock twitched, she leaned over and drew it back into her mouth. Hal reached down and pulled her up the length of his body. She curled up against his side and rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and told her, "You are amazing."

**o0()0o**

Robin looked up into his blue eyes and smiled. "You're not so bad yourself."

Hal grinned. "I think we've missed our dinner reservations."

She ran her fingers through his sweat dampened hair. "I can have some Chinese delivered. It'll take about forty five minutes to get here, but it's really good."

Hal told her what he wanted, and she grabbed her phone off the nightstand. While she placed their order, Hal amused himself by running his fingers up and down her body, making mental notes of any spots that made her react to him. When she got off the phone, he kissed her long and hard. He pulled back with a smile and said, "Let's see what we can do in forty five minutes."

Robin woke the next morning feeling wonderfully tender in all the right places. She and Hal made love, then ate Chinese food while watching TV. Afterwards, they made love again before falling into an exhausted sleep. At some time during the night, Hal reached for her again. They spent hours learning each others bodies.

She sat up in bed and saw that his side was empty. Before she could begin to feel disappointed, Hal walked into the bedroom, carrying a cup of coffee. He set it on the nightstand next to her and gave her a slow kiss good morning. He pulled back before she could drag him back into bed, but he gave her a smile and told her, "Go do what you need to do. Breakfast is ready when you are."

Robin got out of bed and took her coffee into the bathroom with her. It only took her a few minutes to take care of nature's call, brush her teeth, and throw on a pair of shorts and a tank top. She made it into the kitchen in time to see Hal slide an omelette onto one of her plates. She gave his ass a squeeze and snagged a piece of bacon. Stepping back, she admired the tattoo stretched across his shoulders. It was styled to look like the skin was being ripped away to reveal the Marine Corps logo embedded underneath. She traced the line of the eagle's wing. "Nice work," she said and kissed the tip of the anchor.

Hal turned around and pulled her to him. He kissed her again and said, "Why don't we eat before breakfast gets cold?" She took the plates and brought them to the table.

Robin liked the way Hal filled in the seat at her table. She really liked the fact that he had stayed the night and didn't bolt the next morning. She was no stranger to sex, but this feeling of togetherness, sharing a meal in no particular hurry, was uncharted territory for her. She scooped up a bite of her eggs and asked, "Do you have any plans for the day?"

He shrugged. "My shift starts at two. I already went for a run, so it won't bother me to skip the gym for a day. I figure if I get back by one thirty, I'll have plenty of time to shower and gear up. Was there anything you wanted to do today?"

Robin looked him over. "I don't have anything planned, but I'm sure I could think of something to do."

When Hal left Robin's apartment, her plans had expanded to include taking a nap. She had just laid her head on her pillow when the ring of her cell phone interrupted. She answered to hear Shirley say, "Girl, what the hell is going on over there?"

Robin couldn't believe that Shirley already knew about her and Hal. "What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about Joe."

Robin was confused, to put it mildly. "Shirley, Joe isn't here."

"Yes he is, I just got off the phone with Dina from dispatch."

Robin sat up in bed. "Shirley, I'm off today. What are you talking about?"

Shirley's voice dropped down like she was sharing a secret. "I've been hearing all sorts of weird rumors about Joe this morning. Mary Lou told me that she heard Joe was caught doing drugs on Stark Street."

Robin didn't believe it. "Shirley, he drinks, but I know he doesn't do drugs."

Shirley blew out a breath. "Spoilsport. Anyway, after I talked to Mary Lou, Dina called me and told me" she paused. "Well, she told me something else."

"Come on, Shirley, what did she say?"

"Well, she told me that she heard that Joe was caught just this morning with a fellow officer in the evidence room."

Robin laughed. "If that one is true, I feel sorry for whoever it is. The evidence room is packed full of crap. She'd have to be a contortionist for the two of them to fit in there. Shirley, I'm over Joe. I really am. If he's nailing someone else, I'll wish her luck myself, she's going to need it."

Shirley breathed a sigh of relief. "Still, it might not be a bad idea for you to swing by Tasty Pastry or Gioviccini's today, let people see for themselves that you were off."

Robin inwardly cringed. "It's that bad?"

Shirley was quick to reassure her friend. "Not yet, but it's much better to head the grapevine off at the pass."

Robin agreed with Shirley, so when she hung up, she got dressed and went out to see and be seen. She took Shirley's advice and hit the Tasty Pastry first. She wasn't in line for a minute bofore Someone behind her spoke up. "Robin Russell, did you get sent home from work?"

Robin turned around to see Helen Plum standing behind her. Robin tried her best to look confused. "Today is my day off, Mrs. Plum. Why would I be sent home?"

She was secretly pleased to see Mrs. Plum try to stammer out an excuse. "I um, er, heard you weren't feeling well. Uh, I guess it was someone else." She opened her purse and started to root around inside it. "Oh, I'm um, that is I think that, um, I can't find my keys." She turned around and raced out of the store. Inside, Robin couldn't stop laughing, but for the rest of the customers, she just raised her eyebrows and shrugged. When it was her turn at the counter, she ordered herself two Boston Creme Donuts.

Her next stop was the Clip 'n Curl, where she bought a bottle of shampoo she didn't need. Edna Mazur poked her head out from under the dryer and said, "Don't you let that man get away with it."

Again, Robin made an innocent face. "What man, Mrs. Mazur?"

Edna harrumphed. "As if you don't know. Just remember, even if you don't want to make an honest man out of him, he needs to take care of his responsibilities."

Robin threw up a little in the back of her mouth at what she knew Edna was insinuating. Still, she kept calm as she replied, "Edna, I don't think that Joe Morelli and honest belong in the same sentence. Also, since I stopped seeing him months ago, I can guarantee you that there is nothing for him to take care of." Wanting to make sure that some of the mess landed on Joe where it belonged she said, "Has anyone noticed whether or not Teri Gilman has put on a couple of pounds lately?" Edna nodded approvingly and rolled her false teeth around in her mouth. Robin paid for her purchase and left the salon.

Robin saved Giovicchini's for last. As soon as she walked in the door, she heard the hushed conversations that were going on near the Deli counter at the rear of the store. She walked back and took a number. She was waiting for her turn when Connie Rizzoli, who worked at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, walked in. She picked up a number and walked straight to Robin. "I heard you were off duty today. Hell of a day to be off work."

Robin had to agree. "I'd rather be off work than caught in the property room."

Connie snorted out a laugh. Once she regained her composure, she said, "You're Okay, Russell."

Robin took that as the compliment it was meant as. "So, do you have any idea what's going on?"

Connie shook her head. "My favorite theory so far has to do with Vinnie, a petting zoo, and a sheep that will never be the same, though." Robin still had tears streaming from her eyes as her number was called and she ordered her ham, salami, and capicola sandwich.

The next day, the rumors were getting even worse. Thankfully, Shirley's advice kept Robin out of the worst of it. It was different to see Joe as the subject of all the gossip, usually it was the women around him that took the worst of it. When Joe walked by the briefing room, a couple of the officers snickered and started whispering, but at least no one started looking in her direction.

She joined Eddie for lunch at Pino's again. Once they ordered, Robin told him, "I really need to thank Shirley. Her advice really kept my ass out of the fire."

Eddie laughed. "If you really wanted to thank her, you could babysit for her so that we can go out one night."

Robin teased, "I'm not that grateful. So, do you have any idea what the hell's going on?"

Eddie shrugged. "No idea. Shirley said she's been hearing different things from different people, but none of it makes sense."

They were eating their lunch when the door opened. Hal and Cal walked in and Robin couldn't contain her smile. When they spotted Robin and Eddie, they walked over to the table. If Eddie was reluctant to talk to the guys, he didn't let it show. "Hey Hal, Cal, have a seat."

Te men sat and ordered sodas. As soon as the waitress walked away, Hal turned to Robin and said, "I saw your cruiser parked out front and thought we'd stop by, I hope you don't mind."

Robin smiled and said, "Of course not. I thought your shift didn't start until two."

Hal shook his head. "When we're doing patrols, Tank likes to switch up the start times. That way no one will be able to get a lock on who is going to be where and when. We only started our shift about a half an hour ago. So how was your nap?"

Eddie watched the two of them talk. Christ, he thought to himself, were he and Shirley that sappy when they first started dating? No wonder Shirley's cousin Stephanie gave them such a hard time. Shaking his head, he turned to Cal and said, "I never seen her so googly eyed over a guy. Is he always like this?"

Cal gave Eddie a look. "Man, I've never seen him hit this hard by a woman. Together, they're like two toddlers playing in traffic."

Eddie nodded in agreement. "I just hope neither of them get hit by a bus." He dropped a twenty on the table and stood. "I'm gonna get back to it. Russell, I'll talk to you later. Hal, Cal." He nodded at each of the men as he stood.

Robin took a couple of minutes to finish eating and talk to the guys. When she was done, she paid the check and the three of them stood to leave. She glanced around the room and noticed that there were a lot of eyes on them, but for the first time, she didn't mind.

When they got outside, Cal walked to the Rangeman SUV while Hal escorted Robin to her cruiser. He leaned against the top of the car and said, "I get off at eight. If you like, I can take you for a late dinner."

Robin put her hands in her pockets and leaned against her door. "If you come over at eight, I can have dinner waiting for you."

Before Hal could answer, they were interrupted by a voice behind them. "Jesus, Russell, scraping the bottom of the barrel, don't you think?"


	11. A Shining example

Hal whipped around as Robin straightened up and looked over his shoulder. She had been so focused on Hal that she didn't notice Joe's unmarked car pull into the parking lot. Angry at being interrupted, she snapped out, "Give it a rest, Morelli."

Joe snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "So tell me, is it true what they say about steroid use shrinking the boys? He looks like his should be about the size of a pair of grapes."

Robin saw the back of Hal's neck turn bright red, and she was afraid he'd go all Hulk on Joe's ass. She thought Joe deserved it, but she didn't want to have to visit her boyfriend in Jail. She put her hand on the small of his back and stepped out until she was standing beside him. Putting as much of a sneer as she could on her face, she said, "Why do you care so much about the size of his balls? The only one I see trying to measure up here is you."

Robin could see the muscle in the side of Joe's jaw clench, and she really didn't care. Did he really have to be such a douche because she was over him? He sauntered over to where Robin and Hal were standing. "I used to think you were a decent cop, Russell, Why the hell would you start sleeping with criminals?"

Joe swung his hands out like he usually did when he was mad. Robin wasn't sure if he hit Hal by accident or if Hal moved just enough to get in the way of Joe's hand, but as soon as he made contact, Hal had him on the ground with a knee in his back, Joe's arm twisted up behind him, and a handful of Joe's hair. Joe's face was purple with rage. He started yelling, "You're under arrest for assaulting a police officer, motherfucker. Get the fuck off of me and keep your hands up where I can see them."

Hal made no move to get up, and Robin didn't expect him to. She looked over at the restaurant and saw a sea of faces pressed nose to glass, and at least half a dozen cell phone cameras pointed in their direction. She knew that even though there were other cops in there, no one would be coming out to help anytime soon. she knelt down on the pavement next to them and said, "Joe, we both know that you weren't acting in an official capacity when this happened, and you laid hands on him first. Even if you get him carted off, he'll be out before the key even turns on the cage, and we're both going to have to write a report stating exactly what happened. How do you think that's going to look?"

Joe tried to look at her from where he was kissing the pavement. "You think they're going to take the word of a thug and his whore over mine?"

Robin shook her head. "No, I think they're going to take the word of a police officer, backed up by half a million videos taken from inside Pino's."

Cal spoke up from where he was standing next to the Rangeman SUV. "Don't forget a Rangeman Dash Cam and my own Body Cam." He tapped the small device clipped to his shirt collar. "Don't make me have to explain this to your sister."

Robin put her hand on Hal's arm. "Please let him go, Hal. He's not worth the paperwork."

Hal had Robin stand up and back out of the way. He ground his knee one last time into Morelli's spine, then got up and moved back. Joe jumped up from the ground and put his hand on his gun. Before he could draw his weapon, Robin stood in front of Hal with her own hand near her holster. He shot her a look of pure disgust, but walked back to his car and got in with a slam of the door. When he peeled out of the parking lot, Robin dropped her head and took a deep, shuddering breath.

Hal turned her around and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, he's gone now. It's all right." He rubbed her back in soothing circles. "I'm sorry you felt that you had to step between us." He tipped her chin up.

Instead of tears, it looked like Robin was good and mad. She smacked him in the middle of his chest and took a step back. "He was reaching for his weapon. Do you really think I was just going to stand there and let him shoot you?"

Hal pulled her back into his embrace. "No, I know you wouldn't stand back, I'm just sorry that the whole damn thing happened."

Robin took one last deep breath and stepped back again. "I have to get back to work."

Hal ached to hold her. He settled for asking, "You still want to do dinner tonight?"

She looked off in the direction that Joe had driven she decided that she had already given him too much of her time. She couldn't let him get to her like that. Bringing her attention back to Hal she said, "Yes, I'd like that."

When Robin got back to the station, she was called into her captains office. When she walked in, she saw her union rep sitting in the visitor's chair. He told her to close the door. Once she was standing in front of the desk, he asked her, "Do you wish to file a complaint?"

Robin was sure that her Captain had probably heard about this incident from at least a dozen people by now. "No, Sir."

Her union rep told her, "You would be well within your rights. I've heard there's video of the incident."

Robin wanted to tell them what happened. She was pretty sure they already knew, anyway, but she still didn't want it to go into an official report. "Sir, I was on my lunch break when the incident happened and I consider it to be of a personal nature. The situation was handled, it's over and done with."

The captain just shook his head and told her, "Dismissed."

Robin walked out of the office, but she was stopped by her union rep. "Look, I know you think it's over, but an incident like this one has a way of coming back to bite you in the ass. I strongly recommend you write a statement of the events and get copies of any and all recordings. CYOA, Robin."

She stopped at the grocery store on the way home. When she got there, she put everything away and went to go change out of her uniform. She was standing in the bathroom brushing her teeth when she realized that she was only putting off the inevitable.

Robin sat down at her desk and started to write her statement of events. Robin realized that her union rep was right, and she needed to get this down on paper as soon as possible. As she was typing, she let my mind wander over the events that transpired. Robin thought about everything She did and said, everything Joe did and said, and everything Hal did and said. Thinking about it started her mind wandering. First she thought about Hal. She loved the way he stood up for her. He didn't get in Joe's face, but he left no doubt that he had her back. The more Joe yelled, the more he looked like an ass. Until the takedown. It was so smooth that it was over before Robin knew what was happening. Really, she thought it was kinda hot. Then she started thinking about Joe. His words were cruel and cut to the bone. Robin was beginning to wonder if his anger was pointed at her, or if Rangeman was his real target and she was just a convenient weapon. Maybe everything that's happening is sending him to the crazy end of the swimming pool. All she knew was that she didn't want to be there the next time he snapped.

Robin shook off the way her thoughts had turned. She realized that she had been absently typing while she let her thoughts run amok. Looking at the screen, Robin couldn't help but laugh. Her subconcsious was trying to tell her things she don't necesarily want to know. The entire page was filled with one sentence: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. How long had she been sitting here, thinking about everything anyway? Robin pressed the delete button and watched the words disappear, going faster and faster the longer she kept the button pushed. Once she got those words erased from my paper, if not her mind, she read what she had typed while thinking about Hal: I could be falling in love with him. The contrast between her thoughts on the two men couldn't be more different.

Robin breathed a sigh of relief when she finished typing her statement. It felt like the door to her past with Joe closed a little bit further when she hit the save button. Letting go of her feelings for him, both good and bad, had brought her a sense of peace. She opened a new document in her word processor. Maybe this would close the door the rest of the way.

Dear Joe,

I'm sorry that it has come to this, but I wanted to put it in writing. I don't want to see you anymore. You shouldn't be surprised by this, I know I've told you this before, but you don't seem to be hearing my words. I wasn't going to cheapen this letter by saying something trite like, "It's not you, it's me" or "I've changed", but the fact is, I have changed. I'm no longer the same woman who let you use her whenever it was convienient for you. I haven't been her for a long time.

Please don't stop by my apartment anymore. I won't open the door, even if I'm there. This isn't a phase I'm going through, and it isn't something that's going to change. Please don't call me anymore, I don't want to have to change my number.

If you see me on the street with him, please don't cause another scene. He knows about you, I told him. I was honest with him. That right there is more than we had going for us. He also knows that you are a part of my past, and that's where I intend for you to stay.

I'm sorry if this letter seems a bit harsh, but I need to make sure that you understand what I'm trying to tell you. I'm not sure if what I felt for you could be called love, but I know love was not what you felt for me.

Try to remember me fondly, Joe. Maybe, in time, that's how I'll remember you, too.

Robin

She saved the document and shut down her laptop. Writing everything down had been a cathartic experience. Robin sat at her desk for a few minutes and savored the feeling of relief. Once she was done, she picked up her glass of wine and walked to the kitchen. She had a meal to prepare.

Hal knocked on her door at eight thirty. She opened her door, ran her hand up his chest and gave him a warm kiss hello. When she pulled back, she noticed that Hal was looking a bit dazed. He stepped inside, closed the door, and said, "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"

"Because I decided that I really like you." She smiled and pulled him into the kitchen. He sat at the counter where she had a glass of wine waiting for him while she put the finishing touches on their meal.

Robin carried the dishes over and set them on the table. When she straightened, Hal wrapped his arms around her. The kiss he placed on her neck had enough teeth to make her shiver. He whispered in her ear, "I really like you, too."

Robin woke up the next morning when she heard a noise from her bathroom. Before she could get out of bed, Hal came around the corner wearing an olive green pair of shorts and a matching skin tight shirt with USMC emblazoned across his chest. He grinned sheepishly and said, "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

Robin sat there and tried not to drool. He looked so good that she wanted to whimper. She remembered the dinner they shared the night before. After dinner, they curled up on the couch and watched the game together. She must have fallen asleep before the end, because she vaguely remembered him picking her up and carrying her to bed and her asking him to stay.

He must have taken her silence the wrong way because he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Giving her a kiss he told her, "It's early, so I was going to go for a jog. Why don't you go back to sleep and I'll be back in about an hour."

He stayed. Robin was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that he spent the entire night with her. When he started to stand, she stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll go with you."

Hal waited while Robin got dressed. It was his turn to stare when she came out of the bedroom in a gray TPD t-shirt and gym shorts. It may not have been the sexiest outfit he'd ever seen her wear, but she filled it out just right.

Hal was prepared to keep his pace slow so that Robin could keep up. He was surprised, however, when she set off at a brutal pace. By the time they made it back to Robin's apartment, both of them were dripping with sweat. When Robin grabbed a spare towel out of her closet, Hal said, "Why don't you take the first shower. I'll go get coffee started."

Robin took two steps towards the bathroom and looked back over her shoulder. "Why don't you come shower with me and we'll get coffee later."

Robin raced into the briefing room with seconds to spare before the start of her shift. She could hear the whispers of her fellow officers, and this time she knew that they were talking about her. She kept her head down during the briefing, but perked up when she heard that there was another burglary reported just after her shift yesterday. The Mayor and the Chief of Police were starting to get some heat from the residents, so they were starting to push for more patrols and to have the case solved quickly.

The briefing eventually wrapped up and the officers started out to their patrol cars. When Robin got to the door, she was stopped by the wall of officers stopped in the doorway. She got up on her toes to see what was going on and found Morelli walking down the hall, ignoring the line of uniforms scowling at him. When Joe passed, Dave Brewer, a usually boorish man, said to her, "Don't worry, Russell, we got your back."

By Thursday, the tension between the plainclothes police and the uniformed officers was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Matters were not helped by the fact that rumors seemed to swirl and grow around Joe Morelli. Carl Costanza told her that he heard Morelli beat a suspect. Big Dog said that he was getting freebies from some not so savory Stark Street hookers. Bill Galecki happened to be walking by when Big Dog made his announcement. Not to be outdone, Bill stopped and said, "Are you kidding me? I heard that he was going for a, ahem, 'Gender Reassignment'."

Toward the end of her shift, she got a call to Frank and Helen Plum's house on Roosevelt St. When she got there, Edna Mazur let her in. The living room was a shambles and the TV was missing. Helen plum was drinking Jack straight out of the bottle. When she saw Robin she said, "I asked the person I talked to to send Joseph Morelli."

Robin fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but Detective Morelli works in crimes against persons. I'd be happy to let him know that you would like to speak to him, though." When pigs fly, she thought to herself.

Helen started to bring the bottle to her lips, only to finally realize that she forgot to use a cup. "I just don't understand why this had to happen to me. I'm the one that was victimized. All I asked for was a familiar face. Why, I think of Joseph as if he was my own son in law. "

Robin thought that Helen was out of her mind. If she had Ranger for a son in law, she wouldn't give a loser like Morelli a second glance. She was spared from having to answer by Edna Mazur, who blew a raspberry at her daughter and said, "You only want Joe to come here because you heard from Carla Barroni that he was flashing the old ladies. I bet you only want a look at his package."

Robin managed to turn her laugh into a cough. She made some sympathetic noises while she took her report. The back door was still hanging open, so she figured this was another in the same series of burglaries.

When she was finished with the call, she called her shift commander, then drove straight to Rangeman. She pulled up in front and walked inside. There was yet another big guy at the desk, but this one had a cast on his leg. There was no need to wonder how he got this assignment. She smiled at him and asked, "Is Stephanie available? I just need a few moments of her time." The Rangeman picked up the phone and spoke softly into it.

While he was busy, Robin sent Hal a text, "Who's on desk?"

Seconds later, she got a reply, "Junior. You here?"

She typed back, "Yep, seeing Steph."

He answered, "C U on 5."

Junior seemed like an odd name for such a big guy, but there was already a guy named Tank working there. He hung up the phone and said, "Take the elevator there up to five. She'll meet you there."

Robin smiled. "Thank you, Junior. I hope you feel better soon." She waited until the elevator doors were closed before she started to laugh at his confused expression.

Stephanie was indeed waiting for Robin when the elevator doors opened. She took Robin to the break room and invited her to take a muffin. They sat at the table and Stephanie asked, "What can I do for you?"

Robin took a bite of the muffin. After she finished chewing she said, "The first thing you can tell me is where you get these muffins. This is wonderful."

Stephanie laughed. "Ella makes them herself, and you can't have her."

Robin sobered. "The second part is a little bit more serious. Your parents house was broken into today." She held up her hand to stop the question that she knew was coming. "Nobody was hurt. Apparently, your grandmother was at the Clip 'N Curl getting her hair set, your mother was running errands, and your father was at the VFW playing cards. It was the same M.O. as the other burglaries we've had around town lately."

Stephanie still looked worried for her parents. "I'll call them as soon as you leave."

Robin understood. "I was curious though, How come they didn't have a security system? I mean, they do know that you're married to the owner of the best firm in the city, right?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "My mother is still disappointed that Ranger's last name isn't Morelli. She doesn't want to take anything from 'that man'."

Robin shook her head. "Yeah, I kinda got that impression. By the way, did you hear that he and Barnyard were spotted at the pound, looking for someone to love?"

Despite the gravity of the situation, Stephanie couldn't help but snort out a laugh. "I heard about Vinnie and the sheep, but that one is pretty good." She stood up and said, "Why don't you come with me?" She brought Robin over to the cubicle Robin had seen her at before, grabbing an extra chair on the way. She typed a user name and password into her computer and brought up what looked like surveillance footage. "Just because my mom can be a pain in the rear, doesn't mean that I don't want her to be safe. I had Hector install cameras at the front and back doors where they wouldn't be seen. They're not monitored, but they're motion activated, and we his the recorder under Grandma's bed. I had the system hooked into the WiFi so that I could check it remotely."

Stephanie started to rewind the footage. Robin saw Helen and Frank looking at the back door, then the image changed to her and Helen looking at the back door. Stephanie stopped rewinding when they saw the burglar carrying Frank's wide screen TV. They watched the scene play out, but the perp kept his face turned from the camera. Robin said, "Why don't we rewind this to the beginning, and we'll watch it all the way through."

Stephanie rewound all the way to the beginning of the burglary. They watched one guy in a hoodie and ball cap walk through the backyard and right up to the door. It only took him about ten seconds to break in. They watched him go in and out several times, taking the Plum's prized possessions with him. When they were done watching, Robin asked, "Can you shoot me a copy of this?"

Stephanie pulled a thumb drive out of a desk drawer and plugged it into the computer. She typed in a few commands to copy the video but said, "I don't see how this helps, we never got to see his face. It feels like I should know him."

Robin agreed. "I know what you mean. This does help more than you realize, though. For instance, now we know there's only one person doing the work. We know he's a male, we know he uses a bump key, and he looked pretty short standing next to the fence."

Stephanie rewound the footage again. She stopped when he was walking towards the door. "Actually, he's probably about six feet tall. Mrs. Gritch had that fence special ordered when her lab started jumping the one she had. She didn't want a six foot fence and the four foot one was too low, so she had a four and a half foot fence made just for her."

Robin didn't know how Stephanie knew things like that, but it was good to know. "Okay, that means he's about six feet tall, so he probably weighs around one eighty. This is good stuff, Steph. I'm glad I came over."

Stephanie stood and stretched. "I'm glad you came, too." She took the thumb drive out of the computer and handed it to Robin. She looked up and said, "Looks like I'm not the only one who's glad." Robin saw Hal walking towards them, blushing at Stephanie's comment. Steph reached down and grabbed a Tastykake from her bottom desk drawer and said, "I'll just let Hal see you out," before she disappeared.

Robin stood and smiled at Hal. "Hey"

Hal leaned against the cubicle wall. "Hey yourself. Looks like you had a good meeting."

Robin smiled even wider. "Burglar hit the Plum house today. Good news is no one was hurt, bad news is they don't have an alarm. The really good news is that Stephanie had cameras installed anyway, but the really bad news is that you can't see enough of his face to make a positive ID. Still, this is more than we had yesterday, so I'm going to be happy with what we got."

Hal nodded. "That's good to hear." He walked her towards the break room. "Have you tried a muffin?"

"Yes, but I deserve a second one."

When they got into the room, Hal pressed her up against the wall and kissed her thoroughly. When he was done, he rested his forehead against hers. "We're running an op tonight, so I'll be working late. I'll give you a call, but I should be free for dinner tomorrow."

Robin gave Hal another kiss. "Sorry, I can't. Dinner with my mother tomorrow night. How about I call you when I'm done?"

"That'll have to work." He opened a drawer and pulled out a ziploc baggie. He put a muffin in it and gave it to her. "You certainly do deserve a second muffin."


	12. Another Corny love story

**Okay, this chapter is the one that Dovetails the most with Undercover Cupcake. After this one, there's only a couple more mentions. If you're friends with me on Facebook, my last profile picture will suddenly make a LOT of sense...**

**Oh, and all the characters belong to JE, She gets to have all the fun sometimes. Let me know what you think, this is the first time I wrote a Rangeman without some horribly tragic backstory (I left that to Robin).**

Friday was a day that would live in infamy for Robin. The briefing room was abuzz with gossip when the shift commander walked into the room. Looking over the assembled officers, he began the meeting. "Let's start with the news that has all your tongues wagging this morning. Detective Joseph Morelli has been released from the TPD. I'm sure there are grievances pending, so the matter is far from settled. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that this is not something the department wishes to have discussed outside proper channels." There was an immediate reaction from the assembled officers, which the commander silenced with a withering look. "In unrelated news, Joey Maragucci was released from jail yesterday. We know he works as a bagman for the Grizolli family, and we have every confidence that he will be coming back once more evidence is found." Unrelated to my ass, Robin thought. Her commander may as well have just come out and told them that Joe was fired because some evidence disappeared.

"Moving forward, we caught a small break in the recent torrent of home invasions." He handed a stack of papers to the nearest officer to distribute. "The perpetrator was caught on a hidden surveillance camera entering a residence yesterday. As you can see from the stills being passed out, we are dealing with a lone individual, approximately six feet, weighing about one eighty. We have this much information due to solid police work. I have every confidence that it will be solid police work that closes this case. You can thank Officer Russell for getting this much information, but every one of you needs to be on the lookout for anything suspicious."

The commander continued to discuss the business of the day, but Robin was only half listening. She could barely process what was going on. Joe was fired? No more of his leering insinuations? No more of him trying to pull her into the supply closet? In Robin's head, she knew that getting fired was a serious matter, it was just that her heart was too busy tap dancing around her chest to work up a tear.

By the time Robin got to her mother's house, she was exhausted. Every time she got out of her cruiser today, someone asked her about Joe getting the ax. She felt like she should get "Sorry, I'm not at liberty to discuss that" tattooed across her forehead. She walked in the front door and straight back to the kitchen, following the delicious aroma of the lasagna her mother made.

Her mom looked up when she walked in. She simply asked, "So, how do you feel about it?"

Robin didn't need to ask what her mother meant, it was all anyone talked about all day. "I'm sorry he got fired, but I'm not going to pretend that I'm not secretly glad he's gone." Her mother nodded, seeing the truth of it in her eyes.

They sat down to dinner and her mother pressed for more details. "What happened?"

"It was stupid, really," Robin said as she took a sip of her wine. "Some evidence went missing and a bagman for the Grizolli family had to be let out of jail. There were rumors earlier in the week about Joe being in the evidence room for a different reason, and everyone knew about his connection to Terri Grizolli. I'm more surprised that he didn't realize he'd be investigated than anything else."

"It's those Morelli genes," her mother waived off her statement. "They think a smile and a wink will get them out of anything."

Robin set her glass on the table. "Mom, I know you have a good reason to hate the Morelli's. I know that what I went through brought back everything that you went through, but you need to let it go." She reached across the table and took her mother's hand. "I've accepted the part I played in what happened with Joe, but I'm not letting that define who I am as a person. I made a mistake and I paid for it. It changed my life, but I'm going to do my best to make sure that it's a change for the better."

"I know you will," her mother said as she squeezed her hand. "It's not always going to be easy for you, though, and I worry."

Robin agreed with her mother. "No, it won't be easy, but if it was it wouldn't be worth doing." She let go of her mother's hand and took a bite of lasagna. "So what else is news that doesn't start with a Joe and end with a Morelli?"

"Well, I heard that Alan Shempsky got fired from the button factory the other day," her mother began, and told her about all the non-police related gossip that was going around in the neighborhood.

Robin's mother was getting her a doggy bag when she remembered to ask, "Did you hear back from the boy you went on that date with?"

Calling Hal a boy was somewhat like calling Mt. Rushmore a hill, but Robin knew what her mother meant. "His name is Hal, mom, and yes, I did. In fact, I told him I would call him when I left here."

"And what do you know about him? Where is he from?"

Robin thought about it for a minute. "I'm not sure where he's from, but I don't think it's around here." Her mother frowned, but Robin continued, "I do know that he works for a private security firm here in Trenton. I know that he's kind, I know that he's protective, I know that he's damn good looking, and I know that he really likes me."

Her mother handed her the sack of leftovers. "And?"

Robin's smile warmed her mother's heart. "And I really like him, too."

"I have some leftover lasagna if you're interested," Robin told Hal on her way home.

"I'm more than interested," Hal told her. "Why don't you swing by Rangeman? Maybe I'll even try some lasagna." Robin laughed and Hal told her to pull up to the parking garage when she got there. Robin thought he told her he wasn't working tonight, but maybe he stayed late because she wasn't going to be home.

When she pulled up to the gate, Robin was once again automatically cleared through. This time when she parked, she thought that her little red Mini Cooper looked like a toy among a sea of giant, shiny black SUV's.

Robin was surprised when Hal came out the door wearing cargo shorts and a tank top. "I thought you were working tonight?"

"No, I got off a couple of hours ago." He took the bag of food from her and gave her a quick kiss hello. When he blushed, she remembered that there were video cameras in the garage, so she kept her response to a polite smile.

As they walked to the elevators, Robin asked, "So why are you still here?"

"Because I live here," he said as he pushed the button for four. " Fourth, sixth, and seventh floors are apartments. Ranger and Stephanie live on seven, Ella and Luis live on six, and some of the guys live on four."

Robin was surprised, she never knew there were apartments here. There was no way in hell she would live in the same building as the TPD, although she laughed to herself when she thought of the people in the jail cells as residents. She was a little bit excited and a little bit nervous to see where He lived.

Hal opened the door and ushered her inside. Just inside the door was a short hallway with closed doors on either side. On the right hand side, she could see openings for a kitchenette and living room. On the left there were just closed doors. She was itching to see the rest of the apartment, but he stopped just inside the door. After giving her a much better hello kiss than he had earlier, he told her, "Go ahead and look around. I'll go warm this up."

Robin walked into the living room. The couch was black leather and big enough that the two of them could take a nap together on it, facing a huge television on the opposite wall. Robin pulled apart the curtains to see what his view looked like, but all she could see was the parking garage across the street. Squinting, she could just make out the grill of Hal's truck parked on the second level. That must be where they keep their private vehicles. She turned back and watched Hal over the breakfast bar as he moved around the kitchen.

She opened the first door that was now on her right. Hal's Bedroom was dominated by a king sized bed covered by a midnight blue spread. She ran her hand along sheets that were as soft as silk and looked at the slate gray leather wrapped headboard. There were matching gray nightstands and above the bed was a landscape painting of what looked to her like a farm. She walked to the far wall and opened his closet. Everything was precisely arranged, from uniforms to casual clothes. Each pair of shoes was neatly lined up in its own cubby.

Robin exited the bedroom and entered the bathroom. She was expecting something standard, but fell in love with the smooth gray floor and walls that almost looked like cinder block. The vanity was black with a white marble counter top, and the shower was partitioned off by clear glass. A white bench ran the length of the shower and she thought about how much fun that could be. As she was about to back out of the room, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist. "So, what do you think?"

"I think," she said and leaned further into his embrace, "That I wouldn't mind living at the police station if it came with a bathroom like this."

Hal laughed and gave her a little squeeze. "See everything yet?"

Robin turned in his arms. "I've seen most of it, but I haven't gotten to door number three."

He let her go and turned off the bathroom light. "Go ahead and take a look. I'll be in the living room when you're done."

Robin wandered off to the last door on the left. She opened it to find a walk in closet. On the right side were a few jackets and coats, but it was the left side that fascinated her. Shelves and display cases were filled with Pez dispensers in almost every conceivable shape and size. Most, like the ones depicting the band Kiss were still in their original packaging. She found a large one that depicted Wylie E. Coyote and Road Runner in front of a train coming out of a tunnel, and a Marvin the Martian complete with spaceship. She saw The Simpsons next to Scooby Doo, and Star Trek over by Star Wars. Robin had never seen so many dispensers in one place and she thought it was really cool.

Closing the door, she walked back into the living room. Hal was sitting on the couch with his feet on the chrome and glass coffee table, eating lasagna. She sat down next to him and tucked her own feet to the side. Leaning her head on his shoulder she said, "I really like the Hello Kitty ones in the little pink lunchbox." Hal started to blush, and she felt bad for teasing him. "I was kidding. I really think the whole collection is cool. I still get a different Pez dispenser every year in my Christmas stocking."

Swallowing, he told her, "Hello Kitty was from Cal. He told me that I needed to diversify."

Robin laughed. She turned to him and sat up on her knees. Taking his plate and setting it on the coffee table she said, "You know what else I think?"

He angled his body a little more towards hers. "What?"

"I think," she put her hands on his chest and leaned closer. "That it shows commitment." She kissed him and said, "I think," she slid her hands upwards and around his neck, "that it shows your lighter side." She leaned her forehead against his. "I think," She kissed him again, with intent, "That it's totally hot." This time her kiss involved a lot of tongue.

He slid his hands down her body and said, "Pez dispensers are hot?"

She threw her leg over his so that she was straddling him. Pressing her body against his she smiled and said, "The guy that collects them is."

o0()0o

Robin laid on the couch, her legs entwined with Hal's, and tried to remember how to breathe. Her heart was racing, and she was coated in a fine sheen of sweat. If Hal was afraid of them sticking to the leather, he didn't say anything. Of course, right now he looked like speech was beyond him. She kissed him in the middle of his chest and said, "I really like this couch."

"Thank you," he told her, "I'm thinking of having it bronzed."

Robin laughed and snuggled in. "Are we moving too fast, Hal?"

"Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. We've only been together for a few weeks, and we really don't know that much about each other."

"Robin, I think that whatever pace we're moving at is the right one for us, but I don't mind telling you about myself." He kissed the top of her head. "What do you want to know?"

"Okay, where did you come from?"

"Well, you see, when a man loves a woman..." She snorted out a laugh and hit his chest. "Aside from that part, I grew up just outside of Mitchell, South Dakota."

"South Dakota?"

"Yep. Home of the Mitchell Corn Palace. Play your cards right and I'll take you out there to see it someday."

"The Corn Palace?"

"That's about all there is to see out there." She heard the smile in his voice. "Every year they redecorate the entire building with gigantic murals made entirely from corn."

She leaned up and looked in his eyes. "You're making that up."

This time she could see his smile. "Honey, I wish I was." She snuggled back down into his chest. "My parents have a farm a few miles out of town, and yes, they grow corn."

"Did you want to be a farmer when you grew up?"

"Hell no," he told her. "I wanted to be a Marine. Actually, I wanted to be a Space Cowboy, but that position hasn't opened up yet. I've had about all I ever wanted with the growing of corn. My brother still works the farm, though."

"You have a brother?"

"I have two brothers and a sister. Tom's a farmer, John's a mailman, and Win's still in college."

"Win?"

"Short for Winifred. Made me feel much better about being named Harold. She likes Win much better than Fred."

"Do you miss your family?"

"Sometimes. Then I go out to visit, and I remember why I like New Jersey better."

"And why's that?"

"There's things to do here. I could have gone to any one of Ranger's offices, but I like this one. You can drive across the bridge and be in Philly in minutes, New York is only an hour away, plus, I don't remember ever seeing a beach like Point Pleasant growing up."

Robin unstuck herself from the couch and inched her way up until they were face to face. "I'm glad you picked New Jersey," she said and kissed him again.

The next morning, Robin thanked her lucky stars that she kept a spare uniform in her locker. It was her fault she didn't have time to run home for a new one, and she didn't want to wear the one she had sweat in the day before. Actually, she decided to blame Hal for her need to rush, she spent so long in his shower that she lost track of time. Robin decided that if she ever moved out of her apartment, she was getting a shower like that. Rainwater, Steam bath, Jet spray nozzles, a handheld massager, and a never ending supply of hot water had her in shower heaven. She was just glad she waited for Hal to go down to the gym before she got in there, or she would have dragged him in with her and never left.

She was walking towards the briefing room when Eddie stopped her. "Shirley wants you to call her. She said that you need to fill her in on what's happening because she's living vicariously through you."

Robin promised to make the call and slipped into the room just as the morning briefing was about to begin. Margaret Gooley was the latest victim of the burglar. Once again her shift commander stressed the importance of keeping an eye out for the perp. Complaints to both Mayor Juniak and the Chief of police had reached a fevered pitch.

When she got off shift, she called Shirley. Robin told her that she and Hal were dating, and that it seemed to be getting serious. Shirley wouldn't let her hang up until she promised to come over on her day off and give her all the details. She agreed but was surprised that Shirley could wait until Tuesday.

After she talked to Shirley, she called her mother. She wanted to make sure that she was still being careful and checking the back door before she went inside. Her mother sighed, "Of course I am."

"I'm serious, mom. Margaret Gooley was robbed yesterday, and I want you to be safe."

"Margaret Gooley? I'll have to call her."

"You know her, mom?"

"Of course I do. She used to teach your Sunday School class at Church."

Robin had an idea, but first she had to get her mother off the phone. She reluctantly agreed to dinner later in the week and hurriedly said her goodbyes. Once she was finished, she grabbed her laptop and the list of homeowners that got hit. Spreading everything out on her bed so that she could see the map, she got to work.

Robin was still working on her idea when Hal called a few hours later. "Cal and I were just about to go to Shorty's if you wanted to join us."

Robin was torn between wanting to see Hal and trying to figure this out. "I'm sorry, Hal, I think I may be close to figuring this out."

Hal's interest was piqued. "Your case?" At Robin's affirmative, Hal offered a suggestion. "If you don't mind pizza and company, I could probably loan you a fresh set of eyes."

Robin didn't even have to think about it. "I'd love a fresh set of eyes. Actually, I need a set of Burg eyes, but I like yours more."

"Funny you should say that," Hal told her, "Cal's girlfriend was going to meet us, but if you don't mind the company, I'll see if she'll join us there."

Robin knew that Cal was dating Cathy Morelli. She wasn't sure how she felt about having Joe's sister over for pizza, but if Cathy could handle it, Robin could too. "Sounds great. I'll see you soon?"

"About a half an hour."

Robin hung up and went back to her bedroom. When the knock came on her door, she didn't think a half hour had passed, but she wasn't paying that much attention. She opened the door to find Cathy Morelli standing there wearing a tank top that proudly proclaimed, "I'm with Couyon". Neither woman spoke as they sized each other up. Finally Robin said, "Well, this is awkward. Why don't you come inside? I might have enough beer that we could possibly be able to pretend I didn't used to have sex with your brother."

Cathy laughed. "I think we can skip the beer. If I got mad at every woman that slept with Joe, I'd never be able to talk to a female in my age group again." She stepped inside and looked around the living room. "I wanted to get here a couple of minutes early to make sure we'd be okay. I love Cal, and he thinks of Hal like a little brother."

"I don't think Hal's been considered little any time in the last decade."

"Only Cal." Cathy rolled her eyes and shook her head, but Robin could tell that she was amused. "He said you have something you wanted me to look at?"

"Yeah, come on back." She led Cathy down the short hall into the master bedroom. When they walked into the room, Robin pointed her to the map.

"Are these the houses that got robbed?" she asked as she peered at each of the pins.

Before Robin could answer, there was another knock on the door. "Let's go have some pizza, another half an hour won't change the map." Both women walked back to the living room and Robin opened the door. She was struck by the solid wall of Rangeman black standing in her doorway. She'd hate to be a criminal if these were the guys sent to capture her. She stepped back and made a sweeping gesture. "Come on in."

Cal took the pizza into the dining room while Hal followed Robin into the kitchen for plates. After he kissed her hello he said, "I hope you don't mind us all barging in on you like this."

"Not at all," she said. "I've got a ton of notes and I made some changes to the map. It'll be good to have someone else look at it, and I think Cathy might be able to answer some of my questions."

They went back to the dining room and everyone got down to the serious task of eating. Cathy told Robin about the road trip she and Cal took to Louisiana. She made it seem much more fun than it probably was since she was trying to get away from her crazy former husband. Eventually, Cal asked her about the case she was working on. She told him that she was working on a new theory, and asked them to wait while she got her notes.

When she came back from her bedroom, Hal had already cleaned up the dishes. She spread the map out across the table and went back for the rest of her papers. When she came back this time she pointed to each white pin and said, "This one belongs to Thelma Klapp. Here we have Louise Kulach, Tony Destefano, Margaret Gooley, and Florence Molnar. That one is for Catherine Bargalowski, that's Lois Seltzman, Edna Gluck and this one is Marion Barker. Cathy, what can you tell me about each of these people?"

"Well, Mr. Destefano was my high school science teacher," she said looking at the map.

"I had him too, wasn't he horrible?" Robin shook her head. "I don't mean each person specifically, what can you tell me in general about all of them."

Cathy looked confused. "Well, I know them all, but we all grew up in the same neighborhood."

"That's exactly what I meant," Robin said. "Each one of these people have lived in the Burg for most of their lives, and I knew most of them growing up, too." She pointed at the green pins. "These are the ones I can't figure out if I knew or not. The First one is Loretta Gross."

"You know her," Cathy said bunching up her nose. "Her son Cameron was the weird kid that was always eating bugs. He's a member of the Elk's lodge now, but I don't think he's gotten any less weird."

"Okay, she gets a white pin." Robin shuddered at the memory of Cameron Gross. He certainly lived up to his name. "How about Judy Herrel?"

"She's the old lady on Bayard Street. I don't know about you, but she used to yell at me all the time for being too loud and running on the sidewalk."

"That's right, White pin for her. The last one I have is Fred Hammerstein."

Cathy thought about it. "I'm drawing a blank."

"I know. He lives at 823 Swan Street, and he's the only one who hasn't lived there for at least twenty years."

"Wait a minute, 823 Swan, White townhouse, green shutters?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Sammy the Gimp used to live there. He always gave out nickels to trick or treaters on Halloween. Didn't he die?"

"He did, but that was only a couple of months ago." Robin swapped the green pin for a yellow one. All the rest of the pins were now white. "It looks like we have a connection. It's strange, but it's there. Unless this guy actually is just hitting random people and we just happen to know them all, whoever is doing this is targeting people we grew up around."

"Not just people we grew up around," Cathy said, "but people who were adults while we were growing up."

"Well, they probably have better stuff than Mooner and Dougie, but you're right." Robin sat in a chair and shook her head. "you have no idea how long I've been trying to make sense of this. It still doesn't tell us who's doing this."

"But each step you take is one step closer," Cal interrupted her thoughts with his words of wisdom. "We can have Bomber pull up our client list and see if we have any more customers who fit the profile. That way we can keep an extra eye out for them." He stood and ruffled Robin's hair. "Good work, Russell. Cathy, you want me to walk you to your car, Chère?"

Cathy stood up and gave robin a quick hug. "Thanks for dinner, this was fun." She bounced out the door Cal was holding for her with a wave.

When they were alone, Hal pulled Robin to her feet and gave her a much more thorough kiss than the one she got earlier. He reluctantly stepped back and moved towards the door. "I'm working late tonight, and I've got to get going. Why don't I call you tomorrow and we'll do something fun?"

Robin smiled. "Sounds good to me."


	13. Too close to home

Fun turned out to be a day at Great Adventure. The amusement park was filled with people, But Robin and Hal had a great time riding roller coasters and eating junk food. Hal won her a stuffed dog and she had his name put in a heart on her ankle at the temporary tattoo stand. They splashed each other on the log flume like little kids, and if the Houdini Experience was a little corny, at least she had Hal to hold on to in the dark.

By the time they were driving back to Trenton, Robin was tired and happy. They were about ten minutes out of Trenton when her mother called. "Hi, mom. What's up?"

"Well, I'm standing in my backyard, and the door is wide open."

Robins blood turned to ice in her veins and she sat up, stiff and alert. "Do not go in the house mom, you hear me?" She was glad that without a word, Hal had picked up speed. "I want you to get in your car and lock the doors, okay?" While her mother was walking back to her car, Robin gave Hal the address. Turning her attention back to her mother she said, "I want you to stay on the phone with me until we're there."

Hal unclipped the carabiner attached to his ignition key and handed it to Robin. She used one of the other keys on there to unlock the box under her seat where Hal had secured their guns earlier. She liked the fact that they seemed to work well together under stress, even if she wasn't happy with the reason why. She kept her mother on the phone and talking until they were close enough that she could point out her mother's car. Hal parked behind her, and they both got out to see for themselves that Mrs. Russell was indeed okay.

Once they had her promise to stay in the car a little longer, Robin and Hal moved to the back door. They were both pretty sure that the house was empty, but they still followed procedure. Robin crouched and went in the door first, low and to the left. Hal was only a step behind her and swung to his right. As soom as they cleared the door, Robin called out, "Police. Come out where we can see you."

They didn't get any response, but they didn't expect any, either. Robin said, "I'll take a look upstairs if you'll clear down here?"

Hal nodded, and Robin took a second to note that he was constantly scanning his surroundings with cool, steady eyes. He led the way through the door into the dining room, and she pointed out the stairs to the basement as she worked her way up. After a brief but thorough search, She called out an all clear and came down the stairs. He stood at the bottom with his gun held loosely at his side. Once again she was struck by how solid and professional he looked, even though he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Once they were together, she tucked her gun into the waistband of her shorts and looked around. Sadly, her mother's house was in shambles. As a police officer, she knew that all the ruined knick knacks were only things that could and would be replaced by insurance, but as a daughter, she wanted to weep for the loss of memories. Hal rubbed her back, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Once she composed herself, she went back outside to get her mother.

Her mother walked through the door and whimpered at the devastation that was once her living room. Robin knew exactly how she felt, and wrapped her in a hug. "It'll be all right, mom," she said in a soothing voice. "All these things can be replaced, but you're here and you're safe, and that's all that matters to me."

"I went to the back door first, just like you told me," her mother said with a watery smile as she pet her only child's head.

"You did exactly right." In an effort to lighten the mood, Robin took her mother's hand and said, "Hey, would you like to meet my boyfriend?" Hal had been standing a few feet away, surveying the damage. He walked over to where the women stood while Robin made the introductions. "Mom, this is Hal. Hal, this is my mother, Carol."

Hal held out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Russell, although I'm sorry it wasn't under better circumstances."

"Please, call me Carol," her mother told him. She shook his hand and used her other one to fuss with her hair. "Robin tells me you work in private security?"

When they were done shaking, Hal put his hands in his pockets. "Yes, ma'am. I work for Rangeman, right here in Trenton."

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Her mother was still flustered, but hiding it well behind excellent manners.

"No, thank you, ma'am."

Robin laid her hand on her mother's arm. "Mom, I'm going to go outside and call this in. Would you like Hal to stay here with you?"

Her mom looked up at Hal. "If you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all." He smiled at Robin to let them know that he would be fine.

She called the desk sergeant and was assured that a car would be sent to her location. When she went back in, Her mother and Hal were no longer in the living room, but she could hear them further back in the house. She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen and just watched them.

Hal was leaning a hip against the kitchen counter, between her mother and the door. She could see the butt of his weapon against the small of his back. He was smiling at her mother while she puttered around the kitchen and told him what a catch her daughter was. As if he sensed her, he turned to look at her and held out his hand. Robin went to him and tucked herself up under his arm. She asked her mother, "You're not making dinner, are you? There will be cops here any minute."

Her mother waved her concerns away. "It'll only take a couple of minutes, and they can eat, too."

Resigned, Robin watched her mother move around the kitchen. She had always been impressed by how quickly her mother could throw a meal together using whatever was handy. When the knock came, Robin went out to answer the door.

Carl Costanza and Big Dog were standing on her mother's front porch. She invited them inside. Carl took a look around and shook his head, "Sorry to hear about this Robin, but your mom's okay, right?"

"Yeah," Robin said, nodding. "She's in the back fixing everyone something to eat."

Big Dog brushed past her on his quest for food. She nodded at Carl to follow him and began to clean up the mess.

Hal came out a moment later, carrying some trash bags. he squatted down and started to help clean up. Looking into her eyes he said, "Carl and Big Dog will keep your mother occupied for a little bit. How are you doing?" Robin pressed her lips together and shook her head. Seeing that she was on the verge of tears, Hal stood and pulled her into his arms. By the time her mother started bringing the food out into the dining room, Robin had herself back under control.

"We're going to have to use paper plates," her mother said before she stifled her own sob and looked at the smashed china cabinet. "I'm afraid my dishes are in a bit of a disarray." Robin and Hal went into the dining room. How her mother managed to put out a meal in less than a half an hour, but she supposed that a grilled chicken salad wasn't too hard to manage.

Carl and Big Dog came in from the kitchen carrying bottles of salad dressing and silverware. "Mrs. Russell, you really didn't need to do this."

"Nonsense," her mother replied. "It's the least I can do. Sit and eat, everyone."

No one talked as the salad was passed around and quickly devoured. When they were done, Big Dog told her, "I'm sorry, but we have to get going. I'll make sure Robin gets a copy of the report in the morning." Robin walked them to the door and showed them out.

She found her mother in the kitchen, washing the silverware. "On the bright side, there aren't many dishes to wash."

Robin gave her mother a hug and went back to the living room where Hal was once again cleaning up the mess. She knelt beside him and put her head on his shoulder. "You don't have to stay, I'll get my mother to take me back to my apartment later."

Hal turned and kissed her forehead. "It'll go quicker if there are three of us doing the work."

Grateful, Robin got down to the serious task of cleaning house. With the three of them working, it only took a couple of hours. Robin offered to spend the night, but her mother shooed them out when the worst of the mess was gone. She reminded her mother to make a list of everything that was damaged or missing for her insurance company. "Remember, mom, I'd rather have you around than grandma's china. I never liked that pattern anyway." Her mother smiled at her obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

When Hal made a move to shake her hand again, Mrs. Russell pulled him into a hug. She kissed his cheek and whispered, "Thank you."

When they got back to Rangeman, Hal parked in the garage across the street. He cut the engine and neither one made a move to get out of the car. Hal took Robins hand and asked, "Are you okay?"

She turned to him. When she was at her mother's house, she looked tired and sad. That was gone, and in its place was anger. "When we catch this bastard, he's gonna have a real good complaint for police brutality. I really want to beat the shit out of someone right now."

"I think I can help you with that." Hal used his phone to send a text message and opened his door.

Hal led Robin to the locker room. Inside, there was a middle aged Latino woman folding towels. She turned and smiled at the couple. Hal made the introductions, "Robin, this is Ella. Ella, this is Robin Russell."

When Robin asked, "Ella who make the best muffins in the world?" Ella laughed.

She sized Robin up and turned to a cart that was pushed into the corner. She handed Robin a Rangeman t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. She said, "I think these will do the trick," Showed Robin how to use one of the lockers, and left the room.

Hal gave her a quick kiss and said, "Meet you outside," before leaving himself.

Robin found herself wearing a black Rangeman girly t and matching black workout shorts. She wondered how Ella managed to come up with them on such short notice. She walked out the other door to the locker room and stopped to stare at the sheer size of the gym.

The gym itself must have taken up three quarters of the third floor. There was a row of treadmills and ellipticals, several freeweight stations, stations to work on abs, back, chest, arms, legs or any body part that could possibly gain muscles. The central focus of the room, however, were the exercise mats, a large square in the center of the room where you could possiby hold an elementary school gym class. On the far side of the room was boxing equipment; heavy bags, speed bags, double end bags, and a whole shelf full of pairs of gloves.

Hal came out the door to her left. He was wearing his own olive green workout clothes. He pulled her towards the mats and told her, "You can pick a station, or I'll spar with you if you'd like."

Robin eyed the mats. "Are you going to go easy on me?"

"Do you really want me to?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

Robin practically bounced to the middle of the mats and faced him, shook out her hands and told him, "Come get me."

Hal stalked towards her, circling around and looking for weak spots. Robin spun with him, not allowing him to get behind her. Looking her up and down one more time he said, "You ready?"

"I'm so ready I'm getting" She didn't have time to finish the sentence before he sprung. He went to grab her by the shoulder, but she wasn't there. Robin dropped to one knee and caught him around the middle, almost like a football tackle. As soon as he was off balance, she spun around behind him and sat down while she pulled him with her. Before Hal realized what she had intended to do, he was flat on his back and she had her elbow at his throat, simulating a jab.

Hal bucked his hips and threw her off, rolling until he was on top of her. She inelegantly wrapped her legs around his head and used her thighs to push him back. When he put his hands on the backs of her thighs for leverage, she rolled backwards onto her hands and feet, watching him from a crouch.

"I know they didn't teach you that in the academy," Hal said as he shook off the takedown.

Rising to a stand, Robin said, "Self defense in college." Hal also stood and once again started to circle. This time when he lunged, she grabbed his arm and twisted it so that his palm was facing the ceiling. Spinning away from him, she put her free arm over his and locked her hands around his wrist. She pulled his arm down and away from his body until he was back down on the ground, then she put a knee in his back and twisted his arm behind him. "That's how they teach you to do it in the academy, but it's never really this neat or this easy."

Hal used his free arm to do a one arm push up and Robin hopped off. "From where I was sitting, I wouldn't say it was easy."

Robin grinned and took a step back. "You still let me do it."

"Maybe, but the first one was all you." Hal grinned right back at her.

They grappled on the mats for another half hour, each trading techniques with the other. Robin was sweating and breathing hard, but she figured she gave as good as she got. Her blood was pumping, and she finally felt like she had released the anger she was riding on earlier. She rolled to her side and watched as Hal drank from a water bottle.

When he finished, he picked up a second bottle and brought it to her. He sat on the mat next to her and handed her the bottle. "Feeling better?"

She sat up and took a long drink herself. "Much. Thank you for today, the whole day."

He moved a strand of hair off her forehead. "Anytime."

She put the bottle on the mat. "Did I tell you how hot it was watching you clear a room?" He raised an eyebrow in question. "Very hot. I'd go through a door with you again, and not just so I could watch your ass."

"I wouldn't hesitate to take you." Hal leaned forward and kissed her. When he pulled back, he saw that the need in her eyes matched the one he felt. He kissed her again before he remembered where they were. Pulling back, he blushed and said, "Cameras."

Robin looked up and saw a security camera tucked into a corner of the room. She ran her hand through his hair and pulled him closer. "Take me upstairs, Hal," she demanded. Hal stood and scooped her up with one arm. He held her until she wrapped her arms and legs around him, then her carried her upstairs.

The next morning, Robin checked her email when Hal went downstairs to get the uniform she had left in her car. She saw an email she didn't recognize from SMM at Rangeman dot Com, so she opened it. The email said, "I wiped the end of the recording, but I thought you'd like to have a copy of this. The first one's going on the annual Rangeman blooper reel. I'll put you down for a copy! Steph." Currious, Robin clicked the attachment.

She was still watching the security footage of their sparring match when Hal came back in and asked, "Whatcha doing?"

She closed the program and set the phone down. Picking up her coffee mug, she tried to look innocent. When that didn't work, she asked over the rim of her cup, "What's the Rangeman blooper reel?"

Hal blushed beet red. "Who told you about that?"

"Does it matter?" Robin set down her coffee mug and shrugged.

"Are you going to ask me until I show you?"

"Maybe."

Hal sighed and opened a drawer in his kitchen. He pulled out a DVD and loaded it into his XboX. They sat on the couch and Hal hit the play button.

An hour later, Robin was holding her stomach with one hand and wiping tears off her face with the other. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed that hard. "I thought she was just hell on cars, I didn't realize that she was a disaster magnet."

"Robin, she stunned me with my own stun gun."

"She just sucks you guys in with her curly brown hair and big blue eyes." Robin put her wrist on her forehead and batted her own eyelashes. With a swoon in her voice she said, "Oh, you're such a big, strong man. Could you let little teeny, tiny old me see your stun gun for just a second? Then POW, down you go. The funny part is that she does it to all of you. 'Cal? Could you just stand right here? I promise my sister's water isn't going to break all over you.' Although I have no idea how you guys got security footage from the hospital what with doctor-patient confidentiality and all that."

It was Hal's turn to try to look innocent. "Maybe we asked nicely?"

"You keep telling yourself that," Robin snorted, "and maybe one of us will believe it." Robin gave him one last kiss and stood. "I've got to get ready for work. I'll talk to you later?"

On Tuesday, Hal had an early shift, so Robin woke up alone in her apartment. She had checked up on her mother three times during her shift the day before, but she wished she could do more. She was meeting Shirley for lunch at noon. They were going to take the kids to the park so, as Shirley put it, they could wear themselves out running around like lunatics.

Veterans Park isn't the closest park to Shirley's house. In fact, it's over in Hamilton Township, but it boasts the biggest playground in the state. With school out, the place was packed with kids running around and screaming. Shirley managed to snag a bench close to the action, and had a basket of sandwiches waiting. Robin handed her a soda out of the bag of drinks and Shirley said, "You don't happen to have any liquid Valium in there, do you?"

"Sorry," Robin laughed, "Sodas for us, juice for the kids."

"Can't blame a girl for trying," Shirley said with a shrug. "Now, which news is bigger, you and Hal, or the adventures of a certain ex-Trenton police detective?"

Robin snickered. "I heard about his new career at the Tasty Pastry."

"Girl, the Tasty Pastry was yesterday's job. Didn't you hear?" Robin shook her head and Shirley told her, "He got fired from there yesterday. Mouthed off to Mooch in front of the owner. The dumb ass bragged about nailing the employees. I heard from Emily Bieber whose daughter Lorraine works there that Joe started working at the personal products plant this morning."

"Oh my God!" Robin couldn't help but exclaim. "He got fired from the Tasty Pastry in one day?" The laughter just bubbled out of her. "I worked there my entire senior year of high school. And seriously, do you really see him working at the personal products plant for long? That's just a sexual harassment charge waiting to happen!" Deep down, Robin knew she should feel bad for Joe's current predicament, but she really couldn't work up any sympathy now that the shoe was on the other foot. "I'm sure he'll land on his feet sooner or later, but I have to say that it's nice to see him taken down a peg or two in the process."

"I agree," Shirley said, "and if we happen to get pictures in the process, well..." She showed Robin her phone. Someone had taken a picture of Joe wearing an apron working behind the counter at the bakery.

Robin snorted. "That's so evil Shirley, I love it. If you get one of him at the personal products plant, you have to send it to me. Especially if he has to work the line."

Shirley yelled for her kids to come and eat. Once they were gathered around, Shirley and Robin handed out sandwiches and Juice boxes There were some grumbles and complaints, but eventually everyone started eating. While the kids were around Shirley asked, "So how is your mom doing?"

"She's doing okay. She has some bad moments when she thinks about something like the ceramic mug I made her in the fifth grade which got smashed to bits, but she's getting better. The insurance adjuster came over to the house and looked at the bags of garbage we cleaned up. He told her that she should have a check within a week, so we'll go shopping when that happens. In the meantime, she's eating off paper plates in the house for the first time in her life. I think she likes not having to wash a lot of dishes."

"If it wasn't for paper, we probably wouldn't have any plates, but my mother is the same way, so I know what you mean. Let her know we're thinking of her, though."

"I will, thanks. So, has Eddie been keeping you up to speed with what's going on?"

"He has. When we go home today, we'll all go around back first. He told me you've put in a lot of hours on this. Said you've been working The Rangeman Angle." Shirley was winking so hard, Robin was afraid she was going to have a seizure.

"Yes, well, it's important to cultivate healthy relationships within the community." Shirley bit her knuckle and bounced up and down a little. It must be killing her that they couldn't really talk with the kids sitting there, so Robin gave her a little more, "I think it's great that they've agreed to work so closely with us. It's feels like it could be a relationship that lasts a long time."

As the kids finished their sandwiches, Shirley took their wrappers and stuck them in her basket. Once the last child had their hands washed with wet wipes, and they ran off to play some more, Shirley grabbed Robin's arm by the shoulder, gave her a little shake, and said, "I'm dying here, SPILL!"


	14. Peeping Joe?

**We're almost at the end now, probably three more shorter chapters until we're done. I can't tell you how much fun I've had changing Robin from someone I really didn't like all that much in the beginning into someone who made a mistake but is really cool once you get to know her. Let me know what you think, I love hearing from you! :-)**

**There's another smaller smut warning in this chapter, once again marked off by the o0()0o's.**

**Oh yeah, Characters belong to JE, yada yada yada... **

On one hand Robin felt bad, but on the other, she didn't think she would ever stop laughing. On Wednesday, Robin got a call for a suspicious person. Since it was Elaine Barkolowski's house and Robin had known her since she was a child, she broke several land speed records getting there.

Robin knocked on Mrs. Barkolowski's door and waited for her to answer. It took far too long for her to get to the door, and Robin was ready to kick it in by the time it was. Mrs. Barkolowski looked like she couldn't be a day over three hundred years old, and used a walker. With the coke bottle glasses perched on her nose, Robin was surprised that she could see anything, much less a suspicious person. "You called the police, Mrs. Barkolowski?"

The old lady waived Robin inside. "You're darn right I did. I pay my taxes, I'm an old person, I got rights. I know what's going on around here. We got that burglar running around here, I was tempted to just get my gun and take care of the problem myself. Then I figured if the police shoot him, there's no way I'm going to jail, so I called nine one one. Took you long enough to get here."

"Sorry about that, ma'am. Could you show me where the suspicious person is?" Robin was sure that if she rolled her eyes, Mrs. B wouldn't be able to see it. She was also pretty sure that somehow her mother would find out. Mrs. Barkolowski slowly led her to the kitchen.

She pointed a bony finger towards the kitchen window and said, "I called as soon as I saw him pacing back and forth by Evelyn Nagy's back door. I know he's just working up the courage to break in there and rob her blind. Maybe I should go get my gun so that I can back you up."

Robin looked out the window and had to press her lips together to keep from laughing. She barely maintained a straight face when she said, "I'll go check it out, Mrs. Barkolowski. I'd like you to remain in the house until I get back, and please leave your gun where it is." She walked out the back door and across the yard to Mrs. Nagy's house.

Joe Morelli was pushing a lawnmower and bopping along to the music playing on his iPod. When Robin tapped him on his shoulder, he jumped straight up and slapped his hand on his hip. For a second, Robin thought it must be hard on him to realize his sidearm was no longer there. He stopped the lawnmower, took his earbuds out of his ears, and asked, "What the hell?"

Robin tried to hide the way she wanted to laugh at the situation. "We had a report of a suspicious person at this location."

Morelli rolled his eyes. "I'm a suspicious person now?"

"Mrs. Barkolowski seems to think so." Both of them looked over at her house, and could see her peering through the window. "What are you doing mowing Mrs. Nagy's yard?"

Joe put his hands on his hips and clenched his jaw. "My union rep says I need to get a job while my grievance is being filed, so I got a job. Is there a problem with that? If you had come up from Elmer Street, you would have seen the truck from Up Your Grass."

"No problem. If you want, I'll keep your name out of the report." She knew that whether she put his name in or not, news of his new career would spread like wildfire thanks to the Burg Grapevine. She could already picture Angie Morelli was drinking Maalox by the gallon. "I thought you were working at the personal products plant?"

The vein in his temple throbbed. "I don't want to talk about it."

She coughed to cover the laugh. "All right. I'll let Mrs. Barkolowski know you're not the burglar. Have a nice day." She walked back to the house as Joe stuffed his earbuds back into his ears and started the lawnmower up again. Robin walked in the kitchen door and said, "It's okay, Mrs. Barkolowski, it's just Mrs. Nagy's lawn care guy."

She looked out the window again and said, "I don't know, that's not her usual lawn guy. Are you sure that's not the burglar just pretending to be the lawn care guy?"

"I'm sure it's not the burglar, Mrs. Barkolowski," Robin said patting her hand, "It's Joe Morelli. He just started with the company today"

"I ought to call that company anyway. They should know better than to send strangers out scaring old ladies." She started the slow walk back towards the front door. "Would you like some coffee cake? I just got some fresh from People's."

"Oh, no thank you, Mrs. Barkolowski, I have to get back to the station to write my report. Please keep your eye out for any other suspicious activity, and don't hesitate to call if something is out of the ordinary. Vigilance like yours will keep the community safe." Mrs. Barkolowski beamed under Robin's attention. When they got to the door, Robin once again thanked her for keeping an eye out for her neighbors. "I'm sure they appreciate the fact that you're looking out for them."

Robin got back in her cruiser and called the all clear in to the station. She started the engine and got halfway down the block when she spotted the Rangeman SUV parked at the end of the street. She pulled up behind them and got out of her car as Hal got out of his. He met her at the back bumper of his SUV. Pulling her cap down over her eyes he said, "Heard you got a suspicious persons call over the police band. Saw you talking to Morelli."

Robin fixed her cap and started to laugh. Hal raised his eyebrow in question and she laughed even harder. He folded his arms over his chest and waited until she got herself under control. "He got a job with a lawn care service. Mrs. Barkolowski, who's about two hundred years old and blind as a bat called it in." Hal smiled at her description, so she continued. "You should have seen the look on his face when I asked him what he was doing. I really should send Mrs. B some flowers to thank her for that. She wanted me to arrest him for trespassing." They talked for a few minutes more before each had to get going. Robin thought it was nice that he made sure she was okay without hiding what he was doing or interfering with her job.

Robin got in her car and watched Hal and Cal leave. After they departed, she pulled out her phone and called Shirley. They said their hellos, and she asked, "So, Morelli only lasted one day at the plant?"

Shirley snorted. "You nailed it on him getting fired for sexual harassment, but how did you know he's not there anymore?"

"I just finished a call at the home of Elaine Barkolowski. I figure she's either on the phone with Edna Mazur as we speak, or she's making an appointment at the Clip 'N Curl for maximum exposure, so it won't come as a surprise to some people that the suspicious person she called in happened to be the newest employee of Up Your Grass lawn care service."

Robin had to hold the phone away from her ear so that she didn't go deaf from Shirley's squeal. When she brought the phone back, she could hear Shirley saying, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. You're telling me that Joe got a job at Up Yours?" When Robin confirmed, shirley told her, "This is huge! I can't wait to tell Eddie! Robin, you made my day!" They talked for a couple of minutes longer before Robin had to hang up. As she drove back to the station, Robin couldn't stop her smile.

That night, Hal and Robin were in her apartment watching Television when his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID but made no move to get up as he answered, "Hey, mom, how you doing?" Robin started to get up so that he could have some privacy, but he pulled her back down onto his lap. "I've been busy, mom." There was a pause as his mother said something. He answered, "No, I haven't been working too hard, I've been spending time with my girlfriend." Robin pressed her lips together as she heard the voice on the other end raise to a shout.

Robin tuned out the rest of the conversation and thought about what Hal had told his mom. She felt giddy as a teenager when he called her his girlfriend. Deciding that she really liked that, she snuggled in and traced her fingertips across his chest. She let his voice settle over her like a caress. By the time he hung up the phone, she was trailing kisses along his jaw. He set his phone down on the side table and pinned Robin to the couch cushions. Running his fingers through her hair he told her, "Damned if I could concentrate on a thing my mother said." He trailed soft kisses down her throat.

Robin couldn't manage to do more than purr, "Hmm?"

"Apparently," he said as he inched her shirt up over her stomach, "You and I are now invited to Thanksgiving at the Corn Palace." He exposed the underside of her breasts. taking the delicate skin between his teeth, he bit down gently until Robin was gasping. "Or at least at a farmstead somewhat close to the Palace." He kept moving her shirt upwards as he spoke until he could take her hardened nipple into his mouth. Robin could feel the heavy warmth of her need spread throughout her body. He released her nipple with a soft pop. "That is if we can't manage to get there sooner."

o0()0o

Robin reached down and undid the buttons of his jeans until she could reach in and stroke his hard length. With a sigh she told him, "You can take me anywhere you want, any time you want to, but I really need you to take me right now."

Hal pulled her shirt the rest of the way over her head and twisted it to keep her wrists trapped. He pulled her arms down until her hands were behind her head. When he got up on his knees to remove her shorts, Robin feasted her eyes on the sight of his hard body. His jeans hung open, revealing the head of his cock with precum leaking from the tip. Robin reached out to touch him, but Hal put her hands back where he wanted them. He leaned down and ravaged her mouth. A flex of his hips bought him into the perfect position. Robin went blind with ecstasy when she felt the tip of his cock teasing her opening as his tongue waged a sensual war on her mouth. The scrape of denim was the final touch on an emotional overload.

Robin came down softly and slowly from such a hard and fast orgasm. When she could breathe normally again, she pulled her still bound hands from behind her head and looped them up over Hal's. She kissed him as she worked her way out from under him. Once she was on top, she freed her wrists from her shirt and ran them down Hal's broad chest. She leaned down and kissed each individual muscle as she worked her way across his body. He arched his hips so that she could shimmy his pants down and off him, then drank her fill of the sight of him, naked and solid beneath her.

Running her hands up his solid thigh muscles, she kissed his knee and began to work her way back up his body. She licked and sucked every inch of him until she got all the way back to the top. When she pulled his hands behind his head, he leaned forward and took her nipple into his mouth. She groaned and pulled back until she could whisper in his ear, "I've been checked out by a doctor and I'm current on all my shots. I want to feel you, Hal, with nothing between us."

Hal arched his hips so that he could feel her moist heat. He turned his head so that he could take her mouth, then told her, "I'm clean, too." She raised herself up enough to feel his head invading her entrance, then slid down inch by agonizing inch until he filled her rose above him and started to ride him slowly, gasping at the feel of him so deeply inside of her.

Unable to stand the erotic torture any longer, Hal unclasped his hands and gripped her by the hips. Their pace became frenzied as he dug his fingers in and arched his hips, driving himself deeper than he had been before. With a shout, he started to come inside her, and she screamed his name as his orgasm triggered hers.

o0()0o

Robin was patrolling as usual on Friday. She was on Whittaker ave when she pulled over to talk to Hal. They were just talking about where they were going to meet when Robin said, "Holy Fuck."

Concerned, Hal asked, "What is it?"

Robin dropped her phone, but Hal could hear her over the radio announce a 10-31 robbery in progress in on Whittaker Avenue in the alley between Elmer and Mott. A ball of ice formed in the pit of his stomach when the dispatcher told her backup was ten to fifteen minutes away. Hal called out the address to Cal, and the Rangeman vehicle took off like a rocket.

Robin walked towards the door she had seen the perpetrator bump while she was on the phone. Parked near the door was a light blue Dodge Grand Caravan with its rear door wide open. Robin called the license plate number in at a whisper and walked towards the back door of the house. She could hear the sounds of china being smashed as she crept closer.

Entering the kitchen, she could see canisters swept off the counter and smashed on the floor below. Robin crept through the kitchen and into the dining room. She could see into the living room, where the perp was pulling figurines off a shelf and throwing them into a trash bag. He looked exactly like he did in the surveillance video that Stephanie had gotten from her mother's house, wearing a hoodie and a ball cap. She could see wisps of brown hair underneath the layers. Drawing her weapon, she stepped out into the open and yelled, "Police, Freeze."

He took one look in her direction and ran towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Robin took off running after him. He ran through an open door. Robin jumped and led with her shoulder as he tried to close the door before she could get to it. The force of Robin smashing into the door before it could completely close sent him flying backwards.

Robin wrestled to get him on his stomach with his hands behind his back. He tried to take a swing at her, but only managed to glance a blow off her shoulder. She was glad for her sparring match with Hal, because she could almost hear him whispering pointers in her ear. The perpetrator cursed and spat at her until she had him where she wanted him. As she slapped the cuffs on she told him, "You have the right to remain silent, asshole."

When she finished reading him his Miranda rights, she pulled his cap off and finally got a look at the person who was singlehandedly terrorizing the Burg. She couldn't hide her surprise when she recognized him. "Holy shit, Leo Morelli?"

Cal parked behind Robin's cruiser with a screech of brakes. Before he could put the SUV in park, Hal was out the door and running across the street. Cal got out and chased after him. They got to the back door just as Robin called out, "Police, Freeze!" Hal was about to go in the door after her, but Cal held him back. "You know you can't go in there." He told his friend.

Hal stepped off the porch and kicked the tire of the minivan. "I know it, but I don't have to like it."

Cal walked back to the SUV as Hal waited for Robin to emerge from the house. At least twice he almost convinced himself that she needed him, but he stayed rooted to the spot, because he knew that she could take care of herself. When he heard her voice call in "Suspect in custody" over her radio, the knot in his stomach unclenched, and he could breathe again.

Robin walked Leo out towards the rear of the house so that she could put him in her cruiser. When she caught sight of Hal leaning against the rear bumper of the SUV, she grinned like a madwoman. Pulling Leo's hood off, she said to Hal, "Have you ever met Leo Morelli?"

He had a little bit of a rug burn going on his cheek, but the resemblance to Trenton's least favorite former police officer was noticeable. As the air was saturated with the sounds of sirens getting closer, he shrugged and told Robin, "Sucks for him that there's no one at the TPD to lose his evidence." He got the laugh he was angling for and told her, "Good work, Officer Russell," as they walked towards the cars.

Robin stuffed him into the backseat of her cruiser and turned to Hal. "I really wanted to beat the crap out of him."

He chuckled and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I did, too. I'll call you tonight?"

"I can't wait."

As Hal and Cal pulled away, Robin waited for the first black and white to arrive on scene. Eddie Gazarra got out of his cruiser and ducked down to see who it was. "Damn, Leo Morelli?" He shook his head. "Putz."

Robin pointed out the minivan in the alley which happened to belong to Leo's wife Stella. He told her that he would secure the house and contact the homeowners so that she could take her prisoner in. By the time she pulled away from the curb, there were three more squad cars there to secure the scene.

When Robin took Leo in to book him, she was surrounded by a sea of fellow officers who were there to congratulate her. She had just made the biggest bust of her career, and she was riding high on it. Once he was booked and placed in a holding cell, Robin went to her desk to fill out her report. Before she could get there, she was called into her shift commander's office. She went in and sat in the chair he gestured her towards. "Good work, Russell. Give me the rundown of what happened."

"Sir," Robin began, "I stopped my cruiser on Whittaker Ave to answer a phone call. As I was looking around, I happened to look down the alley across the street where I observed the suspect bumping a lock. As the suspect matched the person who we have on video breaking into another person's premises, I radioed in to the station for assistance, and went to the house to verify the suspect's activities. Since the door was left open, I went in. When I entered the premises, I heard what sounded like something breaking, so I went further in. As soon as I saw the person in question, I identified myself as a police officer and ordered him to stop. The suspect attempted to flee, and I was forced to chase and subdue."

Her commander nodded. "Again, good work. I got word from Gazarra that the house belonged to Carol and Lubie Zabo, so there's no reason why a Morelli should have been in the house. I know you worked hard to crack this one, Russell, so don't be surprized when the Mayor decides to trot you out in front of the cameras and give you a medal or something. Probably give you enough that you could ask for a favor if you need it."

Robin raised her eyebrows, "Do you think I could use it to get Thanksgiving Weekend off?"

Her commander laughed. "Fill out a leave slip and I'll approve it. I was thinking of something more like taking the next detective's exam, but if you'd rather have the leave."

"I want to take the exam, sir, but I want to take it when you feel that I'm ready for it."

Nodding, her commander told her, "That's exactly the right attitude, Russell. You better start studying, you take the exam next month. Now get out of here, you have a report to write."

Robin was still typing when Mickey Maglio from the robbery division walked over to her desk and said, "Your perp wants you in interview."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. He said he wasn't going to talk unless his arresting officer was in there, and that's you. You want in?"

Robin wasn't going to let an opportunity like this pass her by. "I'm in."

She followed Mickey into Interview One. Leo was sitting at the table, handcuffed to the chair. There was a different uniformed officer in the room, but he left as soon as she and Mickey came in.

Leo nodded at Robin, "Russell."

Robin looked at him warily, sat, and said, "Leo."

Mickey Sat back down in the other chair at the table. Looking at Leo he said, "You've already been read your rights, Morelli, and Officer Russell is in the room now. You want to start talking?"

"I don't want to talk to you," he sneered. Turning to Robin he said, "You ask the questions, Russell. Let's see if you can put it together."

He wanted her to question him? Taking a deep breath she said, "Okay Leo, why'd you do it?"

"Jeez," he snorted. "You want me to write a confession, gift wrap it, and hand it to you on a silver platter while I'm at it?"

Robin rolled her eyes. "Fine. I thought you were working for the Turnpike Authority. Did you lose your job?"

"A government job that I've had for over a decade? I could blow up the Lincoln tunnel and they wouldn't be able to fire me."

Robin tried a different tack. "Okay, What did my mother ever do to you? How about Helen Plum? What did she do to piss you off enough to rob her house? And Edna Gluck? You killed her, Leo, why would you do that? Margaret Gooley? She used to teach Sunday school. What could she have possibly done to you that you needed to steal half of everything she owned and break the other half?"

He leaned forward and gripped the arms of his chair. He yelled at her, "Do you even remember Sunday School classes with Mrs. Gooley? Do you remember that frigging ruler? I remember it. And really? Russell, Plum, and Molnar? You bitches wouldn't give me the time of day. Well guess what? I've got your undivided attention now. Every one of you bitches played a part in making my life hell. I didn't do it to steal your shit, I did it to get even with you. I didn't even keep any of the crap I took. I tossed all of ot in the dumpster behind the rest station at exit 7a. All I wanted was to give you back some of what I took from the entire Burg my whole life."

Robin couldn't believe that he was giving her a confession this easily. She walked him through each of the names on her list, and each time he told her about some slight, real or imagined, that he suffered at their hands. Finally, she got to the biggest one on her list. "Okay, let's say that I understand your motive for each of the burglaries. I don't understand why you killed Mrs. Gluck. What did she do that was so bad that you needed to end her life?"

Leo's eyes got as wide as saucers. "I didn't kill her, I swear. I took people's stuff, I didn't whack anyone."

Robin looked him dead in the eye. "I was the first on scene, Leo. She was just inside her front door, with her elephant statue laying right next to her."

Leo held up his hands as far as the cuffs would allow. "Elephant statue? I was in her living room when I heard her car pull up. I dropped the stupid statue and ran. I was gone before she got in the house. I didn't kill anyone, Robin, I swear. I just didn't want to get caught."

Mickey handed her the folder on Edna Gluck. According to the autopsy report, she had died of a heart attack. He may not have hit her like Robin thought, but she felt that he was responsible for her death nonetheless. With a sigh, she closed the file and slid it back to Mickey. She stood and looked at Leo one last time. "You've already been arrested and charged with Unlawful Entry, Theft, and Destruction of Property. You're going to jail, Leo, and you're going to be there for a good long time. Maybe if you're lucky they'll let you bunk with your cousin Kenny."

Robin walked out the door, closed it, and leaned against the wall. Carl Costanza was walking by, but stopped and said, "You did good today, Russell, you okay?"

She looked at him. "I just can't believe that he caused that much mayhem because growing up in the Burg is a gigantic pain in the ass."

Carl looked in the window at Leo. Shaking his head he told Robin, "He did all that because he's a few fries short of a happy meal, the Burg is just an excuse."

The corner of Robin's mouth tipped up in a smile. "Thanks, Carl. I almost forgot that."


	15. You oughta be in pictures

Hal took Robin to Rossinni's for dinner to celebrate the fact that she solved the case. Even though it was a crowded Friday night, they were led to a table almost immediately. Once they were seated and each one ordered a glass of sparkling wine, he asked her, "So, anything interesting happen at work today?"

Robin laughed so loud that several nearby diners turned to see what was happening. Once she could breathe again she said, "Eh, same old same old." She admitted to Hal, "You know, I never came here all that often."

Hal took her hand and asked, "Why not?"

"Because this place is so Chambersburg," she told him. "Most of the people here are Burg-ites, and I always feel like they're talking about me, or at least watching to see who I'm with. I hate that. The last time I was here I was with Joe. He and Steph were in another one of their 'off again' phases. I got so many dirty looks that I felt like there was a scarlet letter on my forehead, only instead of an A for adulterer, it was an M for Morelli."

Hal kissed her knuckles. "He should have a J for Jackass on his forehead. I'm pretty sure I can get Cal's guy to do it." Robin laughed at the image of Morelli walking around like that. "They are watching you though, Robin. Do you want to know why?"

"To see what kind of social faux pas I make today?"

Hal chuckled, and the sound of it hit her square in the belly. She didn't think she's ever get used to her reaction to him. "It's because you are a beautiful woman, Robin. Because today people realize that they are safer tonight thanks to you. There's no scarlet letter, Robin, but I imagine some of them are picturing you with a superhero cape."

"I was just doing my job," Robin muttered and pretended to look down at the menu.

"Hey," Hal said and brought her gaze back up to his. "Most heroes are just people doing their jobs. It only takes one moment to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, but Robin? You've never been ordinary to me."

Robin had to blink back the tears that threatened to fall. She told him, "You know? You're pretty damn amazing yourself." Needing to change the subject she asked him, "So, how was your day, dear?"

"Well, I got to see my girlfriend bring in the bad guy, so that was pretty cool." Hal wiggled his eyebrows, making her giggle. "And you?"

Before she could answer, the waitress came to the table with their wine and an antipasto plate. Setting it down she told them, "Compliments of the house."

They toasted the successful completion of the case and picked at the appetizer. "My shift commander told me that I'm taking the detective's exam next month."

"That's great," he told her enthusiastically. "Do you think you'll be ready for it?"

She shrugged. "It's a lot of studying, but I think I can do it. Oh, and I got Thanksgiving weekend off."

Hal smiled and said, "You think you'll be ready to go to the Corn Palace."

Robin took a sip of her wine and said, "I think I already am."

o0()0o

The next week passed by in a blur. Mayor Juniak did indeed hold a press conference and present her with an award for making the streets of Trenton safer. She shook hands and smiled for the cameras, and when it was all over, she went home to Hal.

Since Hal had to spend the weekend doing off-road driver training with Rangeman, Robin went to lunch with Shirley. They picked a restaurant where, as Shirley put it, "Your server asks you if you would like another glass of wine, not if you'd like fries with that." Shirley told Robin about Joe's downward spiral, but to Robin, it was just part of the local gossip. When Shirley told her that Joe was seeing Terri Gilman more openly now that he wasn't a detective,she didn't feel any jealousy, sadness, or guilt. She used to feel a combination of all three of those things when people talked about Joe and Stephanie. Maybe, she thought, she was growing up after all.

Shirley had her give every detail of the arrest by asking, "So, what was it like taking down Leo Morelli?"

"It felt remarkably good," she told her. "I couldn't believe he had it in him."

"Me neither," Shirley agreed. "I remember him being the runt of the Morelli litter, always hanging out with Kenny Mancuso because Joe and Anthony wouldn't give him the time of day."

"I think that was a part of his problem. If you ask me," Robin told her, "Too many people spent way too much time arounf the Morellis."

Halfway through their lunch, Shirley asked, "So, how is mister tall, dark, and yummy?"

Robin grinned at Shirley's description of Hal. "He's really good." Both women laughed. "You should have seen him when my mom's house got broken into. He was right there with me, and man did he look all kinds of hot the way he carried his gun." She mimed fanning herself. "He invited me to go home with him for Thanksgiving to meet his parents."

Shirley looked delighted by the news. "That's great, are you going?"

"Yeah," She said, "I've already got the time off."

Shirley rested her chin in her hands and fluttered her eyelashes. After she got her laugh she asked, "Has he used the L word yet?"

Robin rolled her eyes and said, "No, but neither have I. I think I might be in love with him, but isn't it too soon to say it? We haven't even been going out for a month, Shirley."

Shirley set her fear to rest. "There's no third date rule for telling someone you love them. You'll know when the time is right for you. Now, for the most important decision of the day, what are we having for dessert?"

On Monday morning, Robin got called to the scene of a pedestrian accident. A man was texting on his cell phone and walked out into traffic without looking. He was taken to the hospital where he could be treated for his broken bones, but he was fortunate that he escaped serious injury. The driver of the car however, was hysterical. Robin suggested she go in for treatment herself, but she decided to go straight home and take a valium. As the ambulance pulled away, robin turned to her fellow officers and said, "I don't have to wonder about when the Zombie Apocalypse is coming, it's already here. The only difference between someone with a smartphone and the walking dead is that the zombies look where they're going."

Robin fought with her bad mood for the rest of the day, but with each mile closer to home, she could feel her spirits lifting. Hal was going to be home after work today. She stopped at the store and picked up everything she needed so that they could spend the entire night in. As she stood in the checkout line, she mulled over the fact that she thought of it as Hal coming home. On an impulse, she stopped at the hardware store before she went home to cook dinner.

When Hal finally knocked on her door, she could tell that his day hadn't been much better than hers. After kissing him hello, she led him to the dining room where dinner was already waiting. Robin thought about how different dinner was tonight than it would have been only a month ago. Back then, she would have nuked herself a frozen dinner and eaten it on the couch while drinking a beer and watching a game. Tonight, she put together a meal of grilled chicken with rice and asparagus, and she was eating it at the dinner table with a man that she had deep feelings for.

Hal brooded all the way through dinner. When they were surled up on the living room couch watching the game, Robin finally asked him, "What's wrong?"

Hal sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I've been trying to think of a good way to tell you this." Robin's stomach dropped to her ankles, and her throat squeezed shut. "We had a new guy start work today at Rangeman."

Robin was confused, to say the least, but immensely relieved that he wasn't about to break up with her. "Okay, is he replacing you or something?"

blowing out a breath, Hal said, "No, but I'm really not happy about this." Robin just looked at him, so he continued, "Joe Morelli started working at Rangeman today. I must have spent a good ten minutes telling Tank what a really bad idea it was, but I was spitting into the wind. I just hope Cal stays healthy, because I do not want to be partnered with that asshole. There is no way I'd trust him at my back going through a door."

Robin straddled his lap and cupped his cheeks in her hands. "Oh, Hal, I'm sorry to hear that, but only because I don't like seeing you unhappy. If it helps, I want you to know that I honestly think he's a pig as a person, but he does his job." She leaned her forehead against his. "And if he pisses you off at work, I'll find something to arrest him for."

Hal kissed her and said, "All day, I've alternated between being pissed off that he's darkening Rangeman's doorstep, and worried about how it would affect you."

Robin kissed him back. "Well, I don't think I'll be in a big rush to spend the night at your place as long as you're here instead. Other than that, I think I'm in the same place Stephanie is."

"And where's Stephanie?"

"A couple of weeks ago, she told me that she was so far over Joe that he wasn't even a smudge in her rear view mirror." She got up and walked to the kitchen. When she came back, she was carrying a small box. Climbing back up on Hal's lap and handing him the box she told him, "I had somewhat of an epiphany today, so I bought you this."

Hal looked at the box. "What is this?"

Smiling, she told him, "It's a gift, captain obvious."

He laughed and said, "That's former Sergeant Obvious to you. I work for my living." He opened the box and looked inside. Pulling out the key he said, "Thank you, Robin. I don't know what to say."

"Say you'll use it. I want you to be comfortable here, Hal, even when I'm not at home."

He dug his keys out of his pocket and put hers on the key chain. Wrapping his arms around her, he told her, "I will use it." He kissed her again. "That was just what I needed. What made you decide to do this?"

"Well," she said, "I was at the grocery store thinking about how glad I was that you were coming home, and it felt right. I want you to feel at home here, because this is where I think you belong."

On Wednesday, Hal came home in a much better mood. He gave Robin a boquet of flowers and a very thorough hello kiss. When they broke apart she told him, "Whatever it was, I'll do it again."

Hal chuckled and followed her into the kitchen. She poured him a glass of wine, then took the pot roast out of the oven. Raising his eyebrow he said, "Well this is new."

She set the roast on the stove and turned back to kiss him again. "I was feeling domestic today, so once I was finished cleaning the apartment I called my mom. She left about twenty minutes ago, but not before she taught me how to make this. Now, I have to let the meat rest for five minutes, what would you like to do now?"

He slid his hands down her back and over her ass. Pulling her closer he said, "I know what I want to do, but five minutes isn't a lot of time to work with."

She laughed and jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. "How was your day, dear?"

"Getting better by the minute." They fooled around until it was time for Robin to cut the roast.

As they started to eat their dinner, Robin asked, "So what did you do today?"

"This morning I kicked Morelli's ass," he said smirking.

She thought about it for a minute. "Well, since you're in such a good mood, I'm going to assume you still have a job."

He saluted her with his wineglass. "Maybe I'm in a good mood because I'm out of a job. Maybe I brought you flowers to help butter you up because I'm going to move in with you and let you take care of me in a manner to which I would like to become accustomed." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Robin doubled over laughing. "On a cop's salary? you better hope that the manner to which you would like to become accustomed lends itself to a lot of Ramen."

"Damn," Hal said and winked at her. "Today was my day to train him on takedown procedures. It wasn't nearly as much fun as sparring with you, by the way. So he comes down to the gym with his 'king of the world' swagger, and within about thirty seconds he was out cold on the floor,twitching." He could tell that Robin was trying to contain her laughter, but it wasn't working. "Anyway, since I was in such a good mood afterwards, I brought you a present."

Robin looked over at the vase of flowers. "I love them, thank you."

"You're welcome," he said, "but that's not your present."

Robin was intrigued. "There's more?"

"There is, but you have to eat all your vegetables first."

After dinner, Hal settled Robin on the couch. He walked over to the TV and took a DVD out of the side pocket of his cargo pants. Putting it in the player, he sat down and pulled Robin onto his lap. As he picked up the remote he asked her, "Do you remember the blooper reel?" Robin nodded and he told her, "Hector and Steph are making a new one, and it's going to be epic."

He pushed play on the remote and the gym from Rangeman popped up on the screen. Hal was standing in the middle of the mats when Joe walked in. There was no volume, but Robin watched with rapt attention. Hal said something to Joe and he patted the handcuffs on the back of his belt. Hal repeated the process and Joe patted his gun, pepper spray, and stun gun. Hal said something else, and Joe took the stun gun from its holster and checked it. Hal hald out his hand, and Joe gave it to him. Hal zapped him, and he flopped on the floor like a trout.

He paused the video so that Robin could get her laughter under control. "We now call that," he told her, "the Bombshell Surprise. I'm just glad that I wasn't on the receiving end that time." He pressed play and they watched while the Hal on the screen took two hours to show Morelli various takedown techniques. He thought that if he wasn't as gentle as he could have been, well, no one would ever know.

Robin was a little disappointed that the video ended. She wasn't ashamed to admit that she was more than a little turned on by watching Hal tear Joe apart. Before he could get up to take care of the DVD, she kissed his neck and told him, "That was the best movie I've ever seen."

Hal arched an eyebrow. "Movie?"

"Yes, movie. It had all the best parts of a movie, minimal plot, awesome action sequences, hot male lead."

"Hot?"

She kissed him long and hard. "Smokin' hot."


	16. A rather persistent rash

**I've been running a day behind for about a week now, and it's driving me nuts. Since I forgot to post this yesterday, I'm putting it up today, then I'll post the epilogue tomorrow. I hope y'all had as much fun reading this one as I did writing it.**

The next weekend, Hal had to work another takedown, so he was going to stay at Rangeman. Robin tried to convince him to come home when he was done, but he wasn't sure how late he was going to work, and he didn't want to wake me. It was lonely in bed without him, but she knew she would see him tomorrow.

Her only defense to what happened next is that she was sound asleep when the phone rang. Robin keep it on the nightstand next to her, and she was kind of hoping that Hal would call when he finished what he was doing. When it rang, she didn't even bother to open her eyes, she just reached out blindly and grabbed the phone. Robin answered with a very sleepy, "Hello?"

The person on the other end just said, "It's me."

"Joe?"

"Yeah."

Her brain was still not processing the conversation. "Why are you calling?"

"You know what? Fuck it. I'm sorry I bothered you, Robin. I thought it might be nice to see a friendly face, but if you're not interested, then I'm sorry I interrupted your night." Why was he being so pissy with me?

"Joe, don't be like that. You just caught me off guard. Why don't you come over?" They both hung up, and Robin immediately started to go back to sleep.

Do you know those movies where one of the characters has an "oh crap" moment and just bolts upright in bed? Robin can now say with authority that things like that actually happen in real life. Just before she went completely back under, her brain engaged and reminded her that she just invited Joe Morelli to come to her apartment. Robin wondered what the hell was she thinking. She was sure that Hal was going to have a fit when she told him about it.

Robin rolled out of bed threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top. After she had her clothes on, she put on a pair of Hal's sweats that had found their way over here. She went into the kitchen and made herself some coffee since her brain was still a little fuzzy, then she took her cup and herself and waited on the couch.

Joe knocked on Robin's door about five minutes later. She set her coffee cup down and opened the door. Joe didn't bother with niceties, he just grabbed her by the nape of her neck and tried to pull her in for a kiss. Robin pushed backwards until she managed to break his hold. If the situation weren't entirely too serious, Robin would have choked laughing at the confused expression on his face.

Joe closed the door behind him and put a hand on his hip. "What the hell, Robin?"

The last trace of humor fled from her. Was he always this big of a jackass? Probably. "What the hell right back at you, Joe. I've told you multiple times and in multiple ways that we were over. I don't know how to make that any clearer than I already have."

Joe was still good and pissed. Robin could see the muscle working in his jaw. "Then why the hell did you invite me over here tonight?"

"Because you called me while I was sound asleep, asshole." Their voices had already risen until They were shouting at each other. Robin stopped, closed her eyes, and deliberately took a deep breath. When she was calmer, she told him, "Joe, it took me a long time to get over you. I have a new man in my life."

He looked confused. "Robin, what the hell are you talking about, getting over me? We never really meant anything to each other."

If Robin had still cared about him at all, that statement would have hurt a lot more than it did. "Joe, you may not have cared about me, but I loved you. I never told you because I knew you didn't feel the same way. Every time you broke up with Stephanie, I would think to myself, 'this is the time he's going to start dating me', only each time you went back to her.

"When she broke up with you for good I thought, 'now it's our turn', but then you started dating Gayle. The only consistent thing about each of those break ups and hook ups was the fact that you were still seeing me. When Gayle dumped you, I didn't really think you were going to swear your undying devotion to me, but it hurt when you followed her around like a crazed stalker. When you had that fight on Hamilton Ave and she called me your whore, you didn't say one damned word to defend my honor. Why would you? She was right, I was your whore.

"Even then, though I was broken and humiliated, I might have taken you back. I might have continued to be yours, but you didn't want to tarnish your reputation as the bad boy gone good. I wasn't good enough to be yours, even though you were the one who ruined my reputation." Robin shrugged and wiped off the tears that had been pouring out of her eyes. "So I got over you. It took a long time for me to realize that I was worth more as a person than you gave me credit for.

"I have a new man now. I have a man who treats me like I deserve to be treated. I wouldn't throw that away if you were to drop to your knees right now, ask me to marry you, and swear your undying love and devotion to me." She turned away from him. "Please leave, I'm done wasting my time."

Instead of leaving, he walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Robin, I never did that to you."

Robin laughed, but it was without humor. "Yeah, you did, you just can't see it over your own ego."

He dropped his hand and stood there. Finally he said, "I don't understand."

Robin went back to the couch and sat down. picking up her coffee, she told him, "If you want to talk about it, have a seat."

They sat there and talked. Robin didn't know how much got through his thick head, but they talked about it until he was pretty much falling asleep on her couch. Robin shook him awake and told him to go home. He asked if he could take a quick shower before he headed out, since he didn't want to fall asleep at the wheel. While he was in Robin's bedroom, she stayed in the kitchen, washing out her coffee cup and waiting for him to leave. Once he was gone, she dropped face first onto her bed and passed out.

Hal didn't call the next morning, but Robin figured that he didn't want to wake her up before his shift. He didn't call around lunchtime, either, but Robin thought he was just busy. When he didn't call by the end of his shift, she was worried that something had happened to him. An hour after his shift, Robin was in a full blown panic. He told her that he would be home after work, and he's never failed to do exactly what he said he was going to do.

Another hour after that, with still no word from him, Robin broke down and called Stephanie. She would have called the control room, but she didn't want him to get teased by the guys because his old lady was checking up on him. When Steph answered the phone, she blurted out, "Have you seen Hal?"

"Hang on a sec," Stephanie said, and Robin could hear her walking somewhere. She had a muffled conversation with someone, then came back on the line. "He's in the gym."

Robin blew out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. If he was at Rangeman, he wasn't in the emergency room, or worse. "All right," Robin told her. "I'll just see him when he gets home.

She asked me to hold on a minute and continued her conversation with whoever she was talking to. When she got back on the phone she said, "I think you might want to come over here."

Robin got in her car and raced over to Rangeman, worried sick about what was wrong with Hal. She was in a hurry, so she was glad the gate to the garage opened as she was pulling in. Stephanie met her at the door and they walked to the elevator. She pushed the button for three and told Robin, "Cal is in there with him. He's going to stay in there when you get there, but he won't interfere unless one of you is in danger." Danger? Robin wished she knew what the hell was going on.

The elevator doors opened on the third floor and Robin and Stephanie stepped out. Ranger was standing in front of the gym doors, but moved out of the way to let Robin through. As she approached the door, Stephanie said, "We'll be out here if you need us."

She stepped inside, and saw Cal sitting on a weight bench, slowly doing arm curls. He wasn't looking in her direction, instead, he was watching Hal, who was currently pounding on one of the heavy bags. As she passed, Robin asked Cal, "Is he okay?"

Cal shrugged. "He been like this all day. I thought he just needed to let it out, but obviously something is more wrong than I thought."

Robin continued walking until she was standing next to the heavy bag that wasn't being beaten on. Hal didn't acknowledge her presence, so she said, "Hal, are you all right?"

Hal hit the bag again. Robin thought that if he kept up the pace he was going at, he would split the bag in no time. Still not looking at her, he said, "Get the fuck out of here."

Stunned, Robin took a step back. "Hal, what's wrong?"

He continued to look straight at the heavy bag and said, "I decided to go to your apartment last night, only I wasn't the first one to get there, was I?"

Robin arched an eyebrow. "Yes, Morelli was at our apartment last night, but do you honestly think I was fucking him?" She could feel herself go from being worried to getting mad. "I thought you knew how I feel about you. How could you think for one second that I would be interested in that asshole?"

Hal finally looked at her. She could see Morelli's death in his eyes. "You were interested in him for years before me."

Robin drove her hands through her hair and blew out a frustrated breath. "Yes I was, but do you know what the two most important words in that sentence are? They're "before you". I did a lot of stupid shit "before you", but that was all in the past. You should have come upstairs last night. You know what you would have seen? You would have seen me telling Joe once and for all that I was done with him. You would have seen me wearing your sweats for the courage to tell him that I didn't want anything to do with him anymore."

She walked over to the rack and picked up one of the boxing gloves. She looked at it for a moment and then turned back to him. Hal had stopped working the bag and was now watching her. "I never gave him a key to my apartment, Hal. I never had half of what I have with you." She heaved the glove and hit him in the center of his chest. "I love you, Hal, and I never knew what I was missing before you. If you think that I could fall for his smarmy lines or his bullshit charm over what I have with you, then you can't possibly love me back." She was past mad and into heartbreak. She wiped the tears from her eyes and started towards the door of the gym. "I'll show myself out."

She got about three steps before he spoke. "You're not right." She stopped, but didn't turn back to him. "You're not right, but you're not entirely wrong, either." He took off his own boxing gloves and ran a towel over his sweat soaked hair. "If I had gone upstairs last night, I would have killed Joe." She felt ice run down her spine when she heard the truth behind his simple declaration. "I would have killed him. Not because I thought you slept with him, but because he was trying to take you from me, and you're mine." He punched the heavy bag one last time. Since he had taken the gloves off, his raw knuckles left a smear of blood across the bag. "I was mad and jealous and crazy enough to go up to a cop's apartment and murder a coworker, so I started my truck and left."

He walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I had no right to feel like that, but the more I thought about it, the more fucked up I got over it. I'm so sorry you thought for a minute that I would think you did something wrong." He leaned his forehead against the back of her head. "I love you, Robin."

Robin turned and wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head against his chest. They stood there, holding each other until she said, "Can we go home now?"

When they walked out of the gym, Stephanie and Ranger were gone, but Cal was still guarding the door. He looked Hal over and asked, "You okay?"

Hal looked down at Robin and said, "Yeah."

With one last look at the two of them, Cal said, "On pardonne tant que l'on aime," kissed Robin on her forehead, and walked to the stairs.

After they were back at the apartment, Robin told him, "That thing that Cal said? He said that to me when I saw him in Shorty's. What does it mean?"

Hal kissed her and said, "We forgive to the extent that we love, and I love you, Robin."

Robin kissed him back. "I love you, too."


	17. Tying up loose ends

**Well, it looks like Robin and Hal made it to the end of the story... One last huge THANK YOU to everyone who read and supported me, I couldn't have done it without you! Super huge thanks to Margaret, who is always willing to listen to me whine and complain. :-D I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Y'all are the BEST!**

Robin sat at the bar, sipping her Cosmo, and listening to the steady beat of the music. It had been a year since the last time she was there, sitting in that very seat and scanning the crowd on the dance floor. Unlike the last time she was here, she was wearing a dress Shirley helped her pick out. Since they became friends, Robin could admit that Shirley really did have better taste than she did. Robin thought about everything that had happened in the last year, both the good and the bad, and she wouldn't trade it for the world.

The detective's exam was brutally hard. Robin wasn't sure that she would have passed it without Hal helping her almost every day for the month she had to study. Still, it was great to be Trenton's newest detective. Sure, she had to trade in her shiny cruiser for a beat up POS that everybody in Trenton knew was a cop car the minute they saw it, but it was hers and she loved it. She also loved going shopping for Detective clothes, but that had more to do with spending the day in the mall with Shirley than actual shopping.

Robin went to the Corn Palace in November, and immediately fell in love with Hal's family. They were open, honest, hardworking people, and she could see where he got his moral compass from. The farm itself was huge. Robin couldn't even begin to imagine herself living out there. It was an hour drive to the mall for goodness sake. The Palace itself was corny and cool, pun intended. She couldn't imagine how much work went into making different murals every year.

Bringing herself back, she focused on where she was. She felt rather than saw someone sit at the bar stool next to hers. Her heart kicked up its beat in her chest, and a smile spread slowly across her face. He leaned into her and said, "Buy you a drink?" His voice was like a caress, and as familiar to her as her own. His voice has become the center of her world, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

She remembered the first time he asked her that very question last year. Back then she decided to see what kind of potential the guy had, and if he looked good, she'd let him buy her a drink. Yes, fate sometimes had a wicked sense of humor, but sometimes you got exactly what you wanted.

She turned to him to accept his offer and stopped in her tracks. Hal was standing there, looking exactly like he did the last time, from his black cargo pants to his blue and white Archaic Affliction t-shirt, straining to cover his muscles. The thing that stopped her in her tracks, though, was the box he held in his hand. Inside the box was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. A two carat heart shaped diamond ring was set in rose gold with tiny butterflies on either side. The wings of the butterfly had diamonds inset into them. It was so magnificent that it took her breath away.

Tears filled her eyes as she nodded yes. He took the ring out of the box and put it on her finger and she thought that this man was everything she ever needed. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with every ounce of love she had inside her. Everybody around the couple cheered for them.

Hal pulled Robin out of the club and back towards his car. Opening the door he told her, "Sorry I don't have the Porsche tonight."

When he got in on the driver's side, she kissed him again. "You ever make love in the back of a Studebaker?"

Hal smiled and told her, "I have plans for tonight that don't involve muscle cramps and a possible arrest for indecent exposure."

She laughed and rested her head against his shoulder and her hand on his thigh. "Then you better drive fast."

They drove down the highway listening to the radio, lost in their own thoughts when the music abruptly cut off. The DJ announced, "We interrupt this programming to bring you this special announcement. Local mafia boss Vito Grizolli has been arrested in his home in Trenton new Jersey today. Mr. Grizolli as well as several of his key lieutenants have been placed in custody for crimes ranging from Racketeering to Murder. Several law enforcement officials have stated off the record that this may be the end of one of New Jersey's oldest crime families."

Robin shut off the radio. Hal asked her, "Wishing you were in Vice?"

She laughed and kissed his cheek. "Nope. I'm right where I belong."

**A/N - Ruh Roh, Shaggy, looks like Terri Gilman may be about to have her whole life turned upside down... Let me know if you think there's anyone out there who could give her a helping hand... **


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